On the 1st, the Supreme Court remanded the case of Lee Jae-myung, the Democratic Party of Korea presidential candidate, citing a guilty verdict for violating the Public Official Election Act. The court reached the same conclusion as the first trial, which found that the candidate's remarks regarding golf and Baekhyeon-dong constituted the publication of false facts. The first trial court sentenced the candidate to one year in prison with a two-year stay of execution, but the second trial reversed the decision to not guilty.
That day, the Seoul Central District Prosecutor's Office stated in a notice sent to reporters, "In line with the Supreme Court's ruling intended to correct the errors in legal interpretation by the second trial, we will ensure that an appropriate sentence corresponding to the crime is pronounced in the remanded proceedings." Earlier, the prosecution had sought a two-year prison sentence for the candidate in the first and second trials.
On that day, the Supreme Court's en banc panel remanded the case regarding the candidate's violation of the Public Official Election Act based on the majority opinion of 10 out of 12 justices who participated in the proceedings. The en banc panel typically reaches a conclusion based on a majority (7 justices) opinion. The Supreme Court ruled that the candidate's remarks regarding 'Kim Moon-ki' related to golf and 'Baekhyeon-dong' were all determined to constitute the publication of false facts. Furthermore, the Supreme Court stated that the second trial court's opposing verdict misunderstood the law.