Lee's election law violation hearing postponed indefinitely
A Seoul court has said that it will indefinitely postpone a trial of President Lee Jae-myung ( pic ) on charges of violating the election law in 2022.
South Korea's Supreme Court ruled in May, before Lee was elected, that he had violated the election law by publicly making 'false statements' during his 2022 presidential bid, and sent the case back to an appeals court.
The Seoul High Court, which had scheduled a hearing for the case on June 18, said yesterday that it will postpone the hearing 'to be decided later' without a date, a court spokesperson confirmed.
Lee's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The court said its decision to postpone the hearing was due to 'Constitution Article 84', without elaborating.
South Korea's Constitution, Article 84, says a sitting president is 'not subject to criminal prosecution while in office' for most crimes.
However, legal experts are divided on whether that applies to ongoing trials that were already prosecuted before a president was elected.
The National Court Administration under the Supreme Court gave as its opinion that judges of each court where Lee's trials are being held will have to decide whether to stop or proceed, according to its statement to a lawmaker in May.
'The court in charge of hearing the case will determine whether Article 84 of the Constitution should be applied to a criminal defendant who was elected in the presidential election,' the statement said.
Lee's ruling Democratic Party, which controls parliament, is planning to pass a Bill this week which suspends ongoing trials for the incumbent president, local broadcaster KBS reported yesterday.
The Constitutional Court may be asked to rule whether the Bill is unconstitutional, legal experts have said. — Reuters
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Star
3 hours ago
- The Star
Xi urges South Korea's Lee to help safeguard free trade in call
BEIJING: Chinese President Xi Jinping (pic) held his first phone conversation with South Korea's newly elected President Lee Jae-myung and called for cooperation to safeguard multilateralism and free trade. Xi made the remarks in a phone call with Lee, state-run Xinhua News Agency and China Central Television reported. Lee earlier said he was set to speak with Xi by phone on Tuesday (June 10). "We should strengthen bilateral cooperation and multilateral coordination, jointly safeguard multilateralism and free trade, and ensure the stability and smoothness of global and regional industrial chains and supply chains,' Xi said, according to the CCTV report. Xi said the two countries should promote their strategic partnership to a higher level and "inject more certainty' into the regional and international landscape, the reports said. The new South Korean leader has signalled a more cautious stance on the US-China rivalry, marking a shift from predecessor Yoon Suk-yeol's foreign policy, which emphasised closer ties with Washington and a trilateral partnership with Japan. - Bloomberg
The Sun
4 hours ago
- The Sun
China, South Korea must safeguard free trade, Xi tells Lee
BEIJING: Chinese leader Xi Jinping urged South Korea's new President Lee Jae-myung on Tuesday to work with Beijing to uphold free trade and defend 'multilateralism', state media said. In a phone call with Lee, Xi urged Beijing and Seoul to 'inject more certainty into regional and international situations', Xinhua said, as well as to 'promote strategic cooperative partnership to higher level'. 'A healthy, stable, and continuously deepening China-South Korea relationship aligns with the trend of the times,' Xi said. 'Close bilateral cooperation and multilateral coordination should be maintained to jointly uphold multilateralism and free trade, ensuring the stability and smooth functioning of global and regional industrial and supply chains,' the Chinese leader added. South Korea's new centre-left leader was elected in a landslide last week after winning a snap election triggered by his predecessor's disastrous martial law declaration. Seoul has long trod a fine line between top trading partner China and defence guarantor the United States. Relations suffered under Lee's predecessor Yoon Suk Yeol, who cleaved close to the United States and sought to improve ties with former colonial master Japan. But both countries' export-driven economies have now found themselves in the crosshairs of US President Donald Trump's tariff blitz. And Lee hinted on the campaign trail that he would seek to improve ties with Beijing. He has also raised alarm by saying that a future conflict between China and Taiwan would not be South Korea's concern.
The Star
9 hours ago
- The Star
South Korea and Japan make pact to strengthen ties
THE nation's newly-elected President Lee Jae-myung and Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba have agreed during a telephone call to strengthen bilateral ties, a South Korean presidential spokesperson and Japan's foreign ministry said. The call comes after the two leaders said they aimed for their countries to continue coordination on North Korea issues. Lee, a left-leaning leader who was elected last week, has said pragmatism was key to his diplomacy and that he would continue with security cooperation between South Korea, Japan and the United States. Lee told Ishiba that he wanted to deal with geopolitical crises within the framework of three-way cooperation with Tokyo and Washington, Kang Yoo-jung, Lee's spokesperson, told reporters. Reaffirming the significance of bilateral ties, the two leaders agreed to meet in person to further develop relations, Kang said. Ishiba told Lee that he wished to further advance bilateral relations 'through mutual efforts based on the foundation built by both governments so far', according to a statement from Japan's foreign ministry. The call between the two leaders lasted for about 25 minutes, the ministry said. — Reuters
