The National Assembly's Administrative Safety Committee held a plenary session on the 7th and unilaterally processed an amendment to the Public Official Election Act led by the Democratic Party of Korea to revise the false fact declaration provisions.
Shin Jeong-hoon, the chair of the Administrative Safety Committee from the Democratic Party, exercised his authority to introduce the amendment to the Public Official Election Act, which he proposed on the 2nd, and approved it on that day. Lawmakers from the People Power Party protested the unilateral processing by leaving the session.
The amendment primarily aims to remove the term 'act' from the criteria for false fact declaration outlined in Article 250 of the Public Official Election Act. The current Article 250, Section 1 of the Public Official Election Act prohibits the declaration of false facts regarding birthplace, family relations, occupation, career, property, and acts for the purpose of winning the election through speeches, broadcasts, or communication.
Shin, who proposed the bill, noted regarding the reasons for the proposal that "abstract and general terms like 'act' make it difficult for voters or candidates to predict the clear scope of legal application," adding that "this raises concerns about arbitrary interpretation and enforcement of the law."
In political circles, there is an interpretation that the amendment passed by the Administrative Safety Committee on that day is related to the Supreme Court's ruling on the 1st that overturned the conviction of Lee Jae-myung, the Democratic Party's presidential candidate, regarding the Public Official Election Act case.
The Supreme Court interpreted Lee's Public Official Election Act case as a declaration of false facts regarding a candidate's 'act' as stated in Article 250, Section 1, particularly concerning what is known as Lee's 'golf course remarks' and 'Baekhyeon-dong remarks.' The Democratic Party argues that this is procedurally and legally unjust.