Supreme Court: Spreading False Statement of Support for Resignation Violates Election Law

"Attempting to Distort Voters' Choices Is a Serious Offense"

The Supreme Court has ruled that spreading false information about a particular organization joining a statement urging a rival candidate to withdraw during a party primary constitutes a violation of the Public Official Election Act.

Supreme Court, Seocho-gu, Seoul. Photo by Yonhap News Agency

According to the legal community on May 29, the First Division of the Supreme Court (Presiding Justice Ma Yongjoo) dismissed the appeals of Pastor A and local media freelance reporter B, both indicted for violating the Public Official Election Act, and upheld the lower court’s ruling. The verdict sentenced A to six months in prison, suspended for one year, and B to a fine of 2 million won.

The court explained its reasoning for sentencing, stating, "The claim that a particular organization supported a candidate's resignation is a matter that could significantly affect voters' decisions during the party primary," and, "The act of announcing false information in an attempt to distort voters' choices is a grave offense."

On March 8, 2024, ahead of the 22nd National Assembly election, A and B were accused of posting a false statement in several Naver Band groups with the intention of preventing Assemblyman C, a primary candidate of a particular party, from being elected.

In particular, they posted—without authorization—claims in the statement that an organization with about 500,000 members had joined calls for Assemblyman C's resignation. However, an investigation revealed that this organization had not participated in issuing any such statement.

During the trial, A argued that the post was written because his account had been stolen or hacked, but the court did not accept this, citing evidence that he directly responded to comments on the post. B contended that he had no intention of causing C’s defeat, but the court ruled that the false information could have misled voters’ accurate judgment.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.