Prosecutors Drop Charges Against Justices in Lee Jae-myung Case

Prosecutors have closed an investigation into former Supreme Court justices, declining to indict them on charges of misconduct related to a controversial ruling in President Lee Jae-myung's election law violation case. The decision effectively dismisses allegations of improper judicial conduct.

The case centered on the Supreme Court's 2020 decision to send back to a lower court the election law violation case against Lee, who was then the governor of Gyeonggi Province. Lee had been found guilty of spreading false information during a 2018 televised debate regarding the "forced hospitalization of his brother" incident. The appellate court had sentenced him to a 3 million won fine, a ruling that would have disqualified him from office.

A civic group, the Center for Economic and Financial Transparency, had filed a complaint against former justices Noh Jeong-hee, Kwon Soon-il, and Cho Jae-yeon. They alleged that the justices, with Noh as the presiding judge, had overturned the guilty verdict and sent the case back for retrial based on improper motives, possibly involving bribery promises from Lee and Kim Man-bae, a key figure in the Daejang-dong development scandal.

However, the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office concluded that there was insufficient evidence to support these claims. The office stated that the allegations lacked concrete grounds and therefore decided not to pursue charges against the former justices. Similarly, charges against Lee and Kim Man-bae related to bribery and embezzlement were also dismissed.