Gyeonggi Governor Acquitted of Violating Election Law

This is another example of how Korea’s libel laws are used to attack people for political reasons. In this example they were used by the Moon administration to attack a liberal political rival for the Presidency. The fact that the verdict has now been overturned is likely a sign that a deal has been struck that Lee will be the next Presidential candidate for the Korean left:

 Gyeonggi Gov. Lee Jae-myung was acquitted on Friday of violating election law, winning a high-profile retrial that could have cost him his governorship. 

The Suwon High Court overturned its previous verdict and found him not guilty of spreading false information during televised debate shows in the runup to the 2018 local elections. 

In July, the Supreme Court remanded the case to the appeals court in a ruling that said Lee should not be punished for what he said during the debates, as they were not intended to deliberately disseminate misinformation.

“It is more important to guarantee freedom of expression (during a debate) to offer (debaters) room, free of legal responsibilities,” Chief Justice Kim Myung-soo said while delivering the livestreamed verdict, adding that it is impossible to hold a politician accountable for every inaccurate expression he or she makes.

In the retrial, the court echoed the view of the highest court, saying that Lee’s comments during the debates were no more than “answers to the questions” from a rival debater and that they were not seen as deliberate acts of disseminating false information, even if they might sound evasive and defensive.

You can read more at the link, but the libel laws were also used to go after his wife as well for posting supposed false information on Twitter. She was previously cleared of the allegations as well. Could you imagine if in the U.S. politicians and their supporters could be charged for libel for giving false information on Twitter and during debates? We would have no politicians left. 

Anyway this is just an example of how clever and ruthless the Moon administration was to win the Presidency. ROK Heads may also remember that they got Ban Ki-moon to drop out of the race by using what he called deliberate “fake news” against him. With Ban and Lee out of the race Moon then had a clear path to the Presidency after former President Park’s impeachment.