Cho Kuk, head of the Rebuilding Korea Party's policy research institute, said President Lee Jae-myung's election law case should be closed through a legal amendment rather than a withdrawal of the indictment.
"This is a case that should be resolved through a dismissal based on a change in the law, not through withdrawal of the indictment," Cho wrote on Facebook on the 6th. He called on the National Assembly to pass an amendment to the Public Official Election Act's provision on publishing false information, which has been pending on the plenary floor for a year and a half after clearing the Legislation and Judiciary Committee.
The bill, introduced by Rep. Shin Jung-hoon of the Democratic Party of Korea, would delete the word "conduct" from the elements of the offense of publishing false information.
If the bill passes, the legal basis for punishment would disappear even if Lee's trial continues. A court ending a trial on those grounds is known as a dismissal. Withdrawal of an indictment, by contrast, is a procedure in which a prosecutor retracts charges he or she has brought. Cho's argument is that in Lee's case, it would be more reasonable to seek a dismissal, in which the court closes the trial without ruling on guilt or innocence.
"'Conduct' was added when the Public Official Election Act was revised in 2000," Cho said, calling it "a far more sweeping and unclear concept than the other categories of false information covered by the clause." He said the provision "has drawn criticism for inviting arbitrary law enforcement because it allows punishment for any and all words and attitudes," and argued that it must be amended.
He also stressed that the effect of the amendment would not be limited to Lee's case. "It would affect, one after another, both the ongoing Yoon Suk-yeol case and the Lee Jae-myung case that will proceed after his term ends," Cho said. "A path to a dismissal ruling opens in both cases, first for Yoon Suk-yeol and then for Lee Jae-myung."
"Withdrawal of the indictment is impossible because the Supreme Court under Chief Justice Jo Hee-de sent the case back with a ruling implying guilt for candidate Lee, so the trial is now at the appellate level," he said. "Unless that Supreme Court reasoning is overturned, there is a high likelihood of a guilty verdict in the appellate trial that resumes after the president's term."
Cho also expressed frustration over the barrage of criticism he drew from some Democratic Party lawmakers and pro-Lee commentators and YouTubers after an earlier Facebook post in which he mentioned the possibility of a guilty verdict for Lee. "They cast me as someone hoping for a guilty verdict against the president and then attacked me like a swarm of bees," he said. "The way they behave is like an 'anti-Lee factory.'" He added that "a grave matter like this must not be handled on the basis of one's own wishes," stressing that the straightforward approach of amending the law should be chosen.
"Political disputes must be settled through 'politics,' not through 'criminal law,'" he said. "The fate of politics and politicians ends up resting first in the hands of prosecutors, and the final outcome depends on which bench they happen to face." He urged the National Assembly to act, saying, "This must be resolved through legislation. The autonomy of politics must be restored."
