The court ruling removes a barrier that could have prevented Lee Jae-myung from running for president.
A South Korean appeals court has reversed a 2024 legal ruling and found main opposition leader Lee Jae-myung not guilty of violating election laws, removing a barrier that could have blocked him from running for president.
Following the verdict on Wednesday, Lee – who had been handed a one-year prison sentence in November – said the decision by the Seoul High Court completely vindicated him and proved the case was politically motivated.
“It is truly outrageous that all this energy and national resources were spent for what is an obvious outcome,” he said.
The appeals court reversed an earlier ruling that found Lee guilty of making a false claim during a 2021 parliamentary audit about a land development project in Seongnam, where he served as mayor.
If upheld, the ruling would have stripped Lee of his parliamentary seat and barred him from running in the next presidential election.
For now, opinion polls indicate he is the frontrunner to replace President Yoon Suk-yeol if the embattled leader’s impeachment is upheld.
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Elections could take place this year
South Korea will hold a snap ballot within 60 days if the Constitutional Court upholds the impeachment of Yoon over his short-lived declaration of martial law in December.
Lee, the leader of the main opposition Democratic Party, is regarded as, by far, the top contender for the next presidential election but faces legal challenges.
It was unclear if the prosecution would decide to appeal Wednesday’s High Court decision at the Supreme Court.
In addition to the election law violation case, he also faces several other trials on matters ranging from bribery to charges mostly linked to a $1bn property development scandal.
In South Korea, if politicians are convicted of violating the election law and given a fine of one million won ($680) or more, or even a suspended sentence, and the conviction becomes finalised, they are barred from running for elections for at least five years and stripped of their parliament seat.
Lee, 61, ran against Yoon in the 2022 presidential election and lost by the slimmest margin in history.
In 2024, he survived a knife attack when he was stabbed in the neck by a man during an event and underwent surgery.