South Korea’s top court rules against presidential frontrunner, potentially upending election

SEOUL, South Korea — South Korea’s Supreme Court overturned on Thursday an earlier ruling that had cleared election frontrunner Lee Jae-myung of violating election law, throwing into doubt his eligibility to run for the presidency.

Lee, the candidate of the liberal Democratic Party that controls parliament, leads opinion polls to win a snap presidential election set off by the ouster of conservative former President Yoon Suk Yeol over his imposition of martial law.

The election law violation case against Lee had been closely watched since a ruling that removes him from the ballot could further deepen divisions in society, after months of political turmoil that has hampered efforts to steer Asia’s fourth-largest economy through the choppy waters of U.S. tariffs.

In March, an appeals court had cleared Lee of violating the election law, but prosecutors had appealed the decision to the Supreme Court.

Lee is embroiled in several criminal trials, but the election law case was in the spotlight because if the Supreme Court overturned Lee’s not guilty verdict and it is finalized, it would bar him from contesting elections for at least five years.

The Supreme Court said that Lee violated election law by publicly stating false facts and ruled to send the case back to the appeals court.

While the Supreme Court moved unusually fast to consider Lee’s election law case, it gave no deadline for the lower court, which usually takes months to revisit rulings and it was unclear if it would come before the June 3 election.

Meanwhile, South Korea’s acting leader, Han Duck-soo, resigned on Thursday in order to clear a path for him to join the race to become the country’s permanent president. Finance Minister Choi Sang-mok was expected to stand in as acting president as required by law.

Speculation had grown that Han, 75, would decide to contest the election after opinion polls showed an increase in support for the experienced technocrat, who was thrust into the top post in December after Yoon’s removal from office.

Han was impeached less than two weeks into the role after clashing with lawmakers in the opposition-controlled parliament. South Korea’s Constitutional Court overturned that impeachment in March, restoring Han to the acting president position.