Concerns grow over return of 43.4 billion won in election costs

[Anchor]

This court ruling has not only raised a red flag for DP leader Lee Jae-myung's presidential ambitions.

If a sentence of this level is confirmed by the Supreme Court, the Democratic Party, to which Representative Lee belongs, will have to return the election costs that were reimbursed.

This amount exceeds a staggering 43 billion won.

Reporter Kim Cheong-yun has the details.

[Report]

According to the Public Official Election Act, if a sentence that invalidates the election is confirmed, the affiliated party must return the election costs that were reimbursed.

Accordingly, if Representative Lee receives a fine of over 1 million won from the Supreme Court, the amount the Democratic Party must return will reach 43.4 billion won.

This is the sum of the 43.1 billion won in election funds reimbursed during the last presidential election and the 300 million won in election deposit paid when Representative Lee registered as a presidential candidate.

The Democratic Party has stated that it will wait for the Supreme Court's final ruling before devising a legal response.

[Yang Bu-nam/Democratic Party Member/YTN Radio 'News Fighting with Bae Seung-hee': "Even if it is confirmed by the Supreme Court, we have legal grounds to argue whether the Democratic Party will have to return 43.4 billion won."]

However, there are concerns that the situation could become serious enough to require the disposal of the Democratic Party's office in Yeouido.

This is due to worries that, with a sentence of one year in prison and two years of probation being handed down in the first trial, if a not guilty verdict is not reached in the second and third trials, the sentence may not be significantly reduced.

In preparation for the worst-case scenario, there are discussions about the possibility of 'splitting' the party.

If lawmakers leave the Democratic Party and form a new party, known as 'party splitting', they would not have to return the election costs.

The ruling party has proposed a 'Election Cost Absconding Prevention Law' that would allow for the deduction of regular subsidies if election costs are not returned, in order to prevent such attempts.

KBS News, Kim Cheong-yun.