South Korean presidential candidate Lee Jae-myeong was sentenced on May 1st for violating the election act

The final verdict of the case involving Lee Jae-myung, the presidential candidate of the Democratic Party of Korea, who is suspected of violating the Public Office Election Act, will be announced on Thursday (May 1st). The ruling will determine whether Lee Jae-myung can run for president.

Yonhap News Agency reported that the Supreme Court of South Korea announced this news on Tuesday (April 29).

On October 20, 2021, during his tenure as the governor of Gyeonggi Province, Lee Jae-myung is suspected of disclosing false information about the land of the Korea Food Research Institute in Baekhyeon-dong, Seongnam City, which was suspected of being illegally changed in use, during a national policy inspection by the National Assembly's Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Committee on the Gyeonggi Provincial Government.

Lee Jae-myung is also suspected of falsely claiming during his appearance on a TV program as the Democratic Party's presidential candidate in December 2021 that he did not know the key figures involved in the real estate corruption case in Daejangdong during his tenure as the mayor of Seongnam.

Last November, the first-instance court determined that Li Zaiming's remarks constituted the dissemination of false information and sentenced him to one year in prison, suspended for two years. However, in March this year, the second-instance court ruled that Li Zaiming's remarks did not constitute the dissemination of false information, overturned the first-instance judgment, and acquitted Li Zaiming.

If the Supreme Court upholds the ruling or remands it to a lower court, Lee Jae-myung will be able to run for election. If Lee Jae-myung is eventually sentenced to imprisonment or a fine of more than 1 million won (about 911 Singapore dollars), he will be banned from running for public office for at least five years.

On April 4, the Constitutional Court of South Korea unanimously approved the impeachment case of President Yoon Suk Yeol, stating that Yoon Suk Yeol's announcement of emergency martial law late at night on December 3 last year lacked due process and legal basis, constituting a serious constitutional violation and illegal act, and immediately terminated Yoon Suk Yeol's position as president.

The new presidential election of South Korea will be held on June 3rd.