On the 26th, ahead of the second trial sentencing of Lee Jae-myung, the leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, for violating the Public Official Election Act, the Constitutional Court's Constitutional Research Institute released a report stating that "the current Public Official Election Act excessively restricts the freedom of election campaigning." Previously, Lee's side had filed for a constitutional review on similar grounds. The Constitutional Court noted that the report does not represent the official position of the institution.
According to the legal community on the 20th, the Constitutional Research Institute posted a paper titled "A Comparative Study for Responding to False and Manipulated Information in Election Processes," written by researcher Kim Ji-young, on its website on the 28th of last month. The researcher position involves hiring external personnel on a five-year contract basis.
This paper was written with the intent of highlighting the need for amendments, as the existing Public Official Election Act appears to excessively infringe upon the freedom of political expression in a situation where false information spreads widely and rapidly due to the development of the internet and social media.
Researcher Kim pointed out Article 250, Paragraph 1 of the Election Act. This clause prohibits the act of publicly disseminating false facts concerning a specific candidate, their spouse or direct descendants or siblings related to their birthplace, family relations, status, occupation, experience, property, actions, affiliations, and support from particular individuals or organizations with the intent to benefit a certain candidate in speeches, broadcasts, newspapers, communications, magazines, posters, promotional materials and other means. Violation of this clause can result in a prison sentence of up to five years or a fine of up to 30 million won.
Researcher Kim said, "Numerous issues have been raised regarding the current law on the crime of disseminating false facts, including violations of the principle of clarity, violations of the principle of excessive restriction of political expression due to excessive limits on political expression, the validity of the regulatory method that distinguishes between winning and losing candidates, and the issue of disqualification arising from a guilty verdict with a fine of over 1 million won."
He noted, "Excessive restriction of political expression and freedom of election campaigning can create phenomena that disrupt or distort the delivery of information necessary for candidate verification and policy evaluation, and thus political expression should not be restricted beyond the scope necessary to achieve its objectives."
Regarding this clause, Lee's side filed for a constitutional review twice. They argued to the appellate court for his Public Official Election Act violation case that the term 'act' in this clause is unclear and broad, and that judging false facts based on the overall impression of a statement is unconstitutional.
However, the Constitutional Court ruled this clause to be constitutional. In a constitutional complaint case regarding this clause in 2021, the court reached a unanimous decision affirming its constitutionality. In the ruling at that time, the court stated, "To secure the fairness of the election by providing voters with an opportunity to correctly assess the candidates' abilities and qualities, it is necessary to limit the candidates' public dissemination of false facts regarding their actions."
Meanwhile, on the 26th, a ruling is scheduled regarding Lee's appeal in the election law violation case. In the first trial, he was sentenced to one year in prison with a two-year probation. If the same sentence is given in the appellate trial and is confirmed by the Supreme Court, Lee will be deprived of the right to run for office for 10 years.