South Korean opposition leader Lee Jae-myung has been acquitted of election law violations by an appeal court on Wednesday, significantly boosting his prospects in the upcoming presidential race.
The Seoul High Court overturned a previous ruling, stating that Lee, who leads the main liberal opposition Democratic Party, did not make false statements during his last presidential campaign.
In November last year, Lee had been handed a one-year prison sentence, suspended for two years, by the Seoul Central District Court for allegedly spreading false information during the 2022 presidential election. Prosecutors had sought a two-year jail term, which would have barred him from holding office or running in elections for a decade.
Lee, who narrowly lost the 2022 presidential election to then-prosecutor Yoon Suk-yeol, is now seen as a top contender for the next presidential election. According to a recent poll by local pollster Flower, 49.6% of respondents said they would vote for the Democratic Party’s candidate in the next election, with Lee commanding an impressive 85.5% support rate within his party.
The poll surveyed 3,004 voters between March 17 and 20, with a margin of error of plus or minus 1.8 percentage points at a 95% confidence level.
Outside the courthouse, supporters and critics of Lee gathered, holding signs and chanting slogans. While some declared “Lee Jae-myung is innocent,” others demanded, “Go to prison, Jae-myung.”
The charges against Lee stemmed from statements he made during a media interview in December 2021, where he denied knowing a senior official linked to a controversial land development project in Seongnam, the city where he served as mayor from 2010 to 2018. Prosecutors accused him of lying to distance himself from the corruption allegations.
Lee was also accused of making false claims during a parliamentary audit in October 2021, asserting that he was pressured by the land ministry under the then-conservative government to modify land use designations for a separate development project in 2015. Prosecutors contested this, but Lee maintained that the ministry had exerted pressure, acknowledging he may have used “exaggerated expressions.”
With the acquittal, Lee’s path to the presidency appears clearer, setting the stage for a potentially fierce political battle in South Korea’s next election.
