The remand trial in President Lee Jae-myung’s Public Official Election Act case has drawn renewed attention. The immediate trigger was former Justice Minister Cho Kuk’s late-August 2026 statement expressing the personal view that the second trial would resume after Lee’s term and that a guilty verdict was highly likely. This was a political figure’s prediction, however, not a final court determination.

Key Developments

On May 1, 2025, the Supreme Court’s full bench overturned the appellate court’s acquittal and remanded the case to the Seoul High Court. Earlier, on March 26, 2025, the Seoul High Court had overturned the first-instance guilty verdict and acquitted Lee.

The issues in the case include whether statements made by Lee, who was then a presidential candidate, about his relationship with the late Kim Moon-gi, former head of the Development Division 1 at Seongnam Development Corporation, and the change in land use for the Baekhyeon-dong site constituted the publication of false information. The Supreme Court found that the appellate court had misunderstood the law in assessing the meaning and falsity of the statements and ordered the case to be reconsidered.

Remand after reversal is a procedure for having a case heard again; it does not itself mean that a guilty verdict has become final.

Current Status

The Seoul High Court’s Criminal Division 7 changed the first hearing date for the remand trial, which had been scheduled for June 9, 2025, and said that the next date would be designated later. The court explained that this action was based on Article 84 of the Constitution.

Article 84 provides that the president is not subject to criminal prosecution while in office, with exceptions for insurrection or foreign aggression. However, legal opinions have differed because the text alone does not clearly establish whether it also bars the continued proceedings of a criminal trial that began before the president took office.

As of September 1, 2026, no additional confirmed hearing date for the remand trial could be verified.

Implications

Three points should be distinguished when considering this case.

  1. The Supreme Court’s remand after reversal was a procedure requiring the second-instance acquittal to be reconsidered.
  2. Whether the trial may proceed or must be suspended while the president remains in office is connected to the interpretation of Article 84 of the Constitution.
  3. Cho Kuk’s prediction about the likelihood of a guilty verdict is a personal assessment by a political figure, not a court ruling or an official institutional decision.

Accordingly, the currently verified materials do not establish that President Lee Jae-myung has been found guilty, and neither the timing of a trial’s resumption after his term nor its outcome can be determined with certainty.

What to Watch Next

Going forward, it will be necessary to check whether the Seoul High Court officially sets the next hearing date for the remand trial and whether additional explanations or court decisions are issued concerning the application of Article 84 of the Constitution. The publicly verified fact at present is that the June 2025 hearing date was changed to be designated later.

Source verification:

  • [Supreme Court full-bench judgment, May 1, 2025, Case No. 2024Do17188](https://www.scourt.go.kr/portal/news/NewsViewAction.work?gubun=4&searchOption=&searchWord=&seqnum=2706)
  • [Timeline of key events in presidential candidate Lee Jae-myung’s Public Official Election Act case](https://www.yna.co.kr/view/AKR20250501080100004)
  • [Supreme Court remands Lee Jae-myung election-law case, overturning second-instance acquittal](https://www.khan.co.kr/article/202505011131001)
  • [Seoul High Court postpones Lee president’s Public Official Election Act remand trial to a date to be designated later](https://www.seoul.co.kr/news/society/law/2025/06/09/20250609500059)
  • [Cho Kuk: “The second trial, which will resume after President Lee’s term, has a very high likelihood of a guilty verdict”](https://www.joongang.co.kr/article/25364688)
  • [Article 84 of the Constitution of the Republic of Korea](https://law.go.kr/법령/대한민국헌법/제84조)
  • [Article 250 of the Public Official Election Act](https://law.go.kr/법령/공직선거법/제250조)