Can President Lee stay out of court?
President Lee Jae-myung's term will likely be unaffected by his ongoing criminal trials, with the ruling Democratic Party of Korea set to push for a Criminal Procedure Act amendment that would postpone any criminal trials involving sitting presidents until they leave office.
A total of five different criminal trials presented major challenges for Lee during his presidential campaign, allowing other candidates to question whether Lee was truly qualified to lead the country.
Some in the legal community expected that the trials would remain hurdles for Lee even after the election as Article 84 of the Constitution -- which stipulates that the president cannot be criminally prosecuted while in office except in cases of insurrection or treason -- does not clarify whether this immunity extends to ongoing trials that began before the president took office.
But the National Assembly's Legislation and Judiciary Committee, led by the Democratic Party, approved a revision to the Criminal Procedure Act in early May to prevent legal ambiguity.
The ruling party is reportedly considering proposing the amendment in a National Assembly plenary session on Thursday.
'The Constitution guarantees the president immunity from prosecution in order to ensure stable governance. The Criminal Procedure Act also states that criminal trials fall under the definition of prosecution,' said Democratic Party Rep. Jeon Hyun-heui during the ruling party's Supreme Council meeting on Monday, claiming that the entire case needs to be suspended regardless of when it began.
The Democratic Party added that the amendment is a legislative clarification introduced to avoid any conflict between constitutional immunity and the actual judicial process.
The main opposition People Power Party condemned the liberal party's legal revision, calling the amendment of the Criminal Procedure Act a 'bulletproof law,' a self-interested measure aimed at granting immunity to the president.
'All are equal before the law. The presidency is not a position to escape trials that began before taking office,' said People Power Party interim leader Kim Yong-tae in a press conference held Sunday, asking whether President Lee is willing to attend a hearing in his trial for alleged election law violations scheduled on June 18.
Kim criticized the proposed bills -- the amendment of the Criminal Procedure Act and a proposed expansion of the Supreme Court -- which he said the ruling party is attempting to ram through only for the benefit of the current president.
In early May, the Supreme Court's Court Administration Office stated that the judges of each court will have to decide whether to stop or proceed with the trials by applying Article 84 of the Constitution to a criminal defendant who has been elected president.
Meanwhile, the Seoul High Court announced Monday that the hearing in Lee's retrial on charges of election law violations, which was set to be held on June 18, will be postponed.
'The court has rescheduled the hearing date and will set a new date later. The decision was made after considering Article 84 of the Constitution,' the Seoul High Court said, without giving a new date for the hearing.
At a general meeting of the main opposition party, People Power Party Rep. Kweon Seong-dong said the judges chose to "abandon judicial independence," and the court's decision will be remembered as the judiciary's embarrassing past.
"I hope the judges who are tasked to hear Lee's other criminal trials do not make foolish mistakes. I urge the Seoul High Court to withdraw its arbitrary interpretation of Article 84 of the Constitution and appeal to the Supreme Court of Korea for legal clarification," Kweon said.
Decisions about Lee's remaining criminal trials, in which the president is accused of subornation of perjury, corruption, illegal money transfers to North Korea and misappropriating public funds, are yet to be announced.
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