Seoul, March 26 South Korean appeals court on Wednesday acquitted opposition leader Lee Jae-myung of lying as a presidential candidate during the 2022 election, overturning a lower court's sentence of a suspended prison term.
The decision by the Seoul High Court removed a major legal hurdle for Lee, as a suspended prison term, if finalized, would have stripped him of his parliamentary seat and barred him from running in the next presidential election.
The appellate ruling can still be overturned by the Supreme Court.
"I thank the court for delivering a proper ruling based on the truth and justice," Lee told reporters.
"I hope the prosecution will now reflect on their actions and refrain from wasting any more national energy."
The leader of the main opposition Democratic Party has been considered the presidential front-runner, particularly in the event the Constitutional Court upholds the impeachment of suspended South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, which would trigger a snap presidential election within 60 days.
The impeachment ruling is expected to be announced in the coming days.
During the initial trial, the opposition leader was found guilty of lying during a media interview in December 2021 that he did not play golf with the late Kim Moon-ki, a former executive of Seongnam Development Corp., which was behind a corruption-ridden development project in Seongnam, south of Seoul, when Lee was the city's mayor.
Lee was also found guilty of lying during a parliamentary audit of the Gyeonggi provincial government in October 2021 that he was under pressure from the land ministry to rezone the former site of the Korea Food Research Institute in Seongnam.
The site was later developed into apartment complexes by a private developer, and allegations were raised that Lee rezoned the land to give preferential treatment to the company, Yonhap news agency reported.
In November, the lower court sentenced Lee to one year in prison, suspended for two years, for making false statements in violation of the Public Official Election Act.
In reversing that decision, however, the Seoul High Court said none of the four remarks Lee made during the campaign about allegedly not knowing Kim qualified as false statements. That included the remark about golf.
"He cannot be considered to have lied that they did not play golf, and it is difficult to recognise the remark as false," the appeals court said.
On the alleged pressure from the land ministry, the court acknowledged that Lee "came under pressure from various angles."
"His remark that he was threatened with charges of dereliction of duty could be an exaggerated expression of the considerable pressure he felt at the time, but it is difficult to recognise as false," the court said.
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