A bill revising the Criminal Procedure Act to completely suspend existing criminal trial procedures from the point of registering as a presidential candidate until the end of the presidential term passed the National Assembly Judiciary Committee's bill review subcommittee on the 7th. While Lee Jae-myung, the Democratic Party of Korea's presidential candidate, is facing five trials, including public election law violations, if the law takes effect, all trials including the election law retrial can be postponed until after the end of the term.
The Judiciary Committee held a bill review subcommittee meeting that morning and approved the bill, led by the Democratic Party. Representative Kim Yong-min, the floor leader of the party, was the lead sponsor. The People Power Party opposed the agenda and withdrew from the vote.
Park Beom-gye, the subcommittee chair and a Democratic Party member, noted to reporters after the meeting, “We included a provision obligating the suspension of trial procedures from the moment of registering as a presidential candidate to when the presidential term ends after being elected president.” However, exceptions are made for insurrection and treason charges, allowing for verdicts on cases that can be adjudicated not guilty while still in office.
The revision adds a new clause in Article 306 of the current Criminal Procedure Act stating, 'When a defendant is elected president, the court must suspend trial procedures from the day of election until the end of the term.' Additionally, it contains provisions mandating the suspension of trials from the moment of registering as a presidential candidate until the presidential election day.
In particular, the added provisions state that ▲the law will take effect from the day of promulgation ▲it will also apply to the sitting president at the time of implementation. This is a measure aimed at immediately halting all criminal trials upon the candidate's presidential election. According to the revision, the first trial for the election law violation case against Lee Jae-myung, which has been postponed to the 18th of next month, cannot be held either. The Judiciary Committee plans to hold a general meeting that afternoon to vote on the revision.
The Democratic Party hurried the passage of the revision to prevent the 'Constitution Article 84 controversy' after the presidential election. Article 84 of the Constitution states the immunity privilege of the sitting president. However, there is a divide in academic and legal circles over whether this clause applies to ongoing trials. This means that even if Lee Jae-myung is elected president, he may still face five trials, including election law violations and charges related to the Daejang-dong case. With the Democratic Party's chances of coming to power increasing, they seek to change the law to eliminate such controversies.