A court in Seoul, South Korea’s capital, on Monday announced that the trial of President Lee Jae-myung, who is facing charges of violating election laws in 2022, will be postponed indefinitely.
South Korea’s Supreme Court ruled in May, before Lee was elected, that Lee had violated election law by publicly making “false statements” during his 2022 presidential bid, and sent the case back to an appeals court.
‘To Be Decided Later’
The Seoul High Court, which had scheduled a hearing for the case on June 18, said on Monday that it will postpone the hearing “to be decided later” without a date, a court spokesperson confirmed.
Lee’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The court said its decision to postpone the hearing was due to “Constitution Article 84”, without elaborating.
Broad Immunity
South Korea’s Constitution, Article 84, says a sitting president is “not subject to criminal prosecution while in office” for most crimes.
However, legal experts are divided on whether that applies to ongoing trials that were already prosecuted before a president was elected.
The National Court Administration under the Supreme Court gave as its opinion that judges of each court where Lee’s trials are being held will have to decide whether to stop or proceed, according to its statement to a lawmaker in May.
“The court in charge of hearing the case will determine whether Article 84 of the Constitution should be applied to a criminal defendant who was elected in the presidential election,” the statement said.
Bill To Suspend Trials
Lee’s ruling Democratic Party, which controls parliament, is planning to pass a bill this week which suspends ongoing trials for the incumbent president, local broadcaster KBS reported on Monday.
The Constitutional Court may be asked to rule whether the bill is unconstitutional, legal experts have said.
Bolstering Ties With Japan
Meanwhile, President Lee and Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba agreed during a telephone call to strengthen bilateral ties, a South Korean presidential spokesperson and Japan’s foreign ministry said on Monday.
The call comes after the two leaders said they aimed for their countries to continue coordination on North Korea issues.
Lee, a left-leaning leader, has said pragmatism was key to his diplomacy and he would continue with security cooperation between South Korea, Japan and the United States.
In Person Meeting Likely
Lee told Ishiba that he wanted to deal with geopolitical crises within the framework of three-way cooperation with Tokyo and Washington, Kang Yoo-jung, Lee’s spokesperson, told reporters.
Reaffirming the significance of bilateral ties, the two leaders agreed to meet in person to further develop relations, Kang added.
Ishiba told Lee that he wished to further advance bilateral relations “through mutual efforts based on the foundation built by both governments so far”, according to a statement from Japan’s foreign ministry.
The call lasted for about 25 minutes, the ministry said.
(With inputs from Reuters)
