Opposition leader gets suspended term for election violations, faces ban from presidential run

A court on Friday sentenced opposition leader Lee Jae-myung to a suspended one-year prison term for lying during the previous presidential campaign when he was a candidate, a ruling that if upheld will strip him of his parliamentary seat and bar him from running in the next presidential election in 2027.

The Seoul Central District Court said Lee, the leader of the main opposition Democratic Party (DP), was guilty of making false statements in violation of the Public Official Election Act and sentenced him to a year in prison, suspended by two years.

Lee was accused of lying during a media interview in December 2021 that he did not know the late Kim Moon-ki, a former executive of Seongnam Development Corp., which was behind a corruption-ridden development project in Seongnam, south of Seoul, when Lee was the city’s mayor. Lee also suggested he did not play golf with Kim while on a business trip to Australia.

Separately, Lee was accused of lying during a parliamentary audit of the Gyeonggi provincial government in October 2021 that he was under pressure from the land ministry to rezone the former site of the Korea Food Research Institute in Seongnam. The site was later developed into apartment complexes by a private developer, and allegations were raised that Lee rezoned the land to give preferential treatment to the company.

The court said all the statements were lies, though the part about not knowing Kim could not legalistically be considered a violation of the election law.

“In the event false statements are made to voters during an election, public opinion can be distorted and damaged,” the court said, noting Lee’s statements were far-reaching as they were broadcast by the media.

“His guilt and crime are considerably heavy,” the court added. “Freedom of speech during an election must be recognized, but the distortion of public opinion through the collection of incorrect information as a result of the declaration of false statements must also be taken into account.”

Lee has been considered a front-runner in the next presidential election, after having lost to President Yoon Suk Yeol by a 0.73 percentage point margin in 2022.

Under the Public Official Election Act, the court needed only to sentence Lee to a fine of 1 million won (US$710) or more in order to strip him of his parliamentary seat and bar him from running for public office for the next five years, including the 2027 presidential election.

If Friday’s ruling is upheld, the DP will also have to return the 43.4 billion won it received from the state election watchdog to cover its 2022 presidential election expenses.

Prosecutors had demanded a two-year prison term for Lee.

Lee vowed to appeal the ruling.

“This is a conclusion that is just difficult to accept, starting with the basic facts,” he told reporters outside the court.

The verdict was the first of four sentences to be handed to the opposition leader, as he is currently standing three other trials on charges of suborning a former mayoral secretary to make false court testimony in his favor, corruption in connection with the Seongnam development project, and involvement in an illegal cash transfer of $8 million to North Korea.