Following the snap election in South Korea, the nation’s supreme court has announced its decision to postpone a trial of its newly elected president indefinitely due to one certain constitutional article.
Last month, South Korea’s supreme court ruled that Lee Jae-myung, the nation’s current president, had violated election law back in 2022 when he publicly made “false statements.” Although the court scheduled a hearing on June 18, it now decided to push the case for later time.
According to South Korea’s Constitution Article 84, the sitting president is “not subject to criminal prosecution while in office” for most crimes. Still, legal experts are debating whether that would apply to the ongoing case before Lee became president.
The National Court Administration announced that the judges who court Lee’s trials will decide whether to process the case.
Furthermore, South Korea’s local broadcaster KBS recently reported that Lee’s party, the Democratic Party, may try to pass a bill that pauses the ongoing trials. Legal experts pointed out the Constitutional Court may be called upon to evaluate the bill’s constitutional validity.
