The Largest Opposition Party in South Korea Demands Postponement of the Retrial of Lee Jae-myung's Case

On May 5, the Democratic Party, the largest opposition party in South Korea, announced that it had submitted a request to the Seoul High Court, hoping to postpone the retrial of the case involving presidential candidate Lee Jae-myung until after the presidential election on June 3. The party believes that if the court makes a judgment before the election, Lee Jae-myung's eligibility to run for office may be severely affected.

On the same day, Yoon Ho-jung, a senior official of the Democratic Party's Election Countermeasures Committee, officially clarified this stance at a press conference. He clearly stated that the party demands that the Seoul High Court make a decision to postpone the retrial of Lee Jae-myung's case by May 12, that is, before the official start of the presidential election campaign. Yoon Ho-jung said in a tough tone that if the court refuses to postpone the retrial, the Democratic Party will use the power of the National Assembly to "punish" the relevant parties. According to interpretations by South Korean media, the "punishment" mentioned here most likely refers to the Democratic Party's push to impeach Cho Hee-dae, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of South Korea.

The origin of the incident was that the Supreme Court of South Korea made a third-instance judgment on the case in which Lee Jae-myung was suspected of violating the Public Official Election Act on May 1. Surprisingly, this judgment overturned the acquittal verdict in the second instance and sent the case back to the Seoul High Court for retrial. This result was like a bombshell, instantly casting a shadow of uncertainty over Lee Jae-myung's presidential campaign. According to the relevant provisions of South Korea's Public Official Election Act, if a candidate is sentenced to a fine of more than 1 million won for election-related crimes, their right to be elected will be deprived for five years; if sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment or more severe punishment, the deprivation period will be extended to ten years. This means that once Lee Jae-myung is found guilty in the retrial and meets the above punishment conditions, he will lose his eligibility to run for president.

Judging from the current opinion polls, Lee Jae-myung originally held a certain advantage among the candidates. An opinion poll released by the polling agency "Real Meter" on May 5 showed that in the hypothetical "three-way showdown" scenario, Lee Jae-myung's approval rating was 46.6%, Kim Moon-soo, the presidential candidate of the ruling People Power Party, had an approval rating of 27.8%, and Lee Jun-seok, the candidate of the New Progressive Party, had an approval rating of 7.5%. If the candidates in the showdown are Lee Jae-myung, former Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, and Lee Jun-seok, their approval ratings are 46.5%, 34.3%, and 5.9%, respectively. Even so, the Supreme Court's judgment has cast a thick shadow over Lee Jae-myung's campaign prospects.

Behind this incident, the domestic political situation in South Korea has become increasingly unpredictable. The Democratic Party regards the Supreme Court's guilty verdict against Lee Jae-myung as the "third civil unrest," believing that it is an improper intervention of the judicial department in the election. Almost all members of the party condemned this retrial decision, calling it a "rigged trial." Kim Min-seok, the Permanent Joint Election Countermeasures Chairman of the Democratic Party, even said vehemently that Yoon Suk-yeol's declaration of martial law was the first civil unrest, the protective actions of Han Duck-soo and Choi Sang-mok were the second civil unrest, and the actions of Chief Justice Cho Hee-dae this time constituted the third civil unrest. Hearings, national investigations, and special inspections must be carried out on the Chief Justice and other relevant personnel.

In order to deal with this situation, in addition to demanding the postponement of the retrial, the Democratic Party has also taken a series of other measures. On the one hand, the party held an extraordinary meeting of party members in the National Assembly to discuss in depth whether to impeach Chief Justice Cho Hee-dae and ten other Supreme Court justices who supported this judgment, and decided to entrust the party leadership to make the final decision. On the other hand, the Democratic Party intends to use its majority status in the National Assembly to defend itself through legislative means. For example, it submitted an amendment to the Court Organization Act, planning to increase the number of justices from the current 14 to 30, trying to control voting by appointing more justices from the reform camp; at the same time, it submitted an amendment to the Criminal Act, aiming to punish judges who distort legal principles or fabricate facts by amending the Code of Criminal Procedure, and to suspend the public trial process for crimes committed by presidential candidates who are elected presidents, except for crimes of internal subversion and external aggression.

However, these measures of the Democratic Party have also drawn criticism from other parties. Shin Dong-wook, the chief spokesman of the ruling People Power Party, criticized that if things don't go according to the party's wishes, the Democratic Party resorts to abuse of impeachment. This kind of behavior is unprecedented in South Korea's constitutional history, and the Democratic Party can be called the most egregious "party that abuses impeachment" in the world.

For Lee Jae-myung personally, the situation he faces is also very delicate. Previously, his hunger strike in 2023 and assassination attempt in 2024 left a deep impression on the South Korean public, to a certain extent shaping his image as a "persecuted reformer." Some South Korean voters believe that the judicial charges against him are political persecution, and these judicial issues have instead generated some sympathy votes. South Korean media analysts pointed out that Lee Jae-myung is currently caught in a complex political game. If the prosecution cannot produce conclusive evidence of his guilt before the election, Lee Jae-myung's grassroots image may become even more solid; conversely, if he is convicted before the election, he will not only lose his eligibility to run but may also face criminal prosecution.

Currently, the South Korean presidential election is affected by various factors, and Lee Jae-myung's judicial process overlapping with the election campaign is one of the key factors. With less than a month left until the presidential election on June 3, whether the retrial of Lee Jae-myung's case will be postponed and what the final judgment will be remain full of uncertainties. These series of variables will undoubtedly have a profound impact on the outcome of this South Korean presidential election, making the domestic political situation in South Korea even more complicated and attracting continuous attention from all parties.