Lee seeks constitutional review

[Anchor]

Lee Jae-myung, the leader of the Democratic Party, has filed a request for a constitutional review with the appellate court regarding the Public Official Election Act case.

He argues that the conviction for the crime of false information disclosure, which was sentenced in the first trial, infringes on freedom of expression and is therefore unconstitutional.

The ruling party criticized this as a tactic to delay the trial.

Reporter Lee Ho-jun has the details.

[Report]

Last November, Lee Jae-myung, the leader of the Democratic Party, was sentenced to one year in prison with a two-year suspended sentence for violating the Public Official Election Act.

Today (Feb.4), he submitted a request for a constitutional review to the appellate court.

He claims that the provision of the Public Official Election Act regarding the 'crime of false information disclosure' excessively infringes on the freedom of political expression and asks the court to determine whether it violates the constitution.

[Lee Jae-myung/Democratic Party Leader/Jan. 23: "Korea is known to be the only country to have a provision that punishes the public disclosure of false information about a candidate's actions."]

A request for a constitutional review is a system where the court refers the constitutionality of a law to the Constitutional Court when it is a prerequisite for the trial.

If the appellate court accepts Lee's request and the review process begins, the trial will be suspended until the Constitutional Court's decision.

Conversely, if the request is dismissed, the trial will proceed without interruption, and the timing of the appellate ruling will be determined by the court's judgment.

The People Power Party criticized Lee for deliberately delaying the trial.

[Shin Dong-wook/People Power Party Spokesperson: "We urge the court to sternly warn against Lee Jae-myung's 'open and habitual trial delay tactics,' which are not even worth considering, and to dismiss the request immediately."]

Previously, the appellate court announced plans to focus on Lee's election law case without taking on other cases and to conclude the trial by the end of this month, so the court's decision on the request for a constitutional review is being closely watched.

This is KBS News, Lee Ho-jun.