Supreme Court Dismisses Hwang Unha's Election Nullification Lawsuit... Retains Parliamentary Seat (Update)

[Asia Economy Reporter Baek Kyunghwan] Hwang Unha, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea who caused controversy by being elected in the general election while holding a current police officer status, was able to maintain his position as a member of the National Assembly following a Supreme Court ruling.

On the 29th, the Supreme Court's First Division (Presiding Justice Kim Seonsu) dismissed the claim of former Future United Party (now People Power Party) lawmaker Lee Eungwon, who filed a lawsuit to invalidate Hwang's election as a member of the National Assembly.

In the April 15 general election last year, Hwang applied for resignation from the police agency to run for office, but it was not accepted due to his ongoing criminal trial. According to the presidential decree 'Regulations on Handling Public Officials' Misconduct Cases,' public officials under investigation or prosecution for misconduct cannot resign from their positions. Hwang was indicted in January last year on charges of interfering in the 2018 Ulsan mayoral election and was undergoing trial.

However, Hwang ran in the general election while maintaining his police officer status and was elected, defeating former lawmaker Lee. In response, Lee filed a lawsuit on May 18 last year, claiming, "The election of Police Commissioner Hwang Unha, who was nominated by a political party while holding a current police officer status, violates the National Public Officials Act and the Public Official Election Act and is therefore invalid."

Subsequently, the police agency conditionally processed Hwang's resignation on May 29, one day before the National Assembly convened. This measure stipulates that if a guilty verdict is confirmed in the election interference case, the resignation will be nullified. To eliminate the possibility of violating the National Assembly Act, which prohibits holding concurrent positions, they initially accepted his resignation but stated that if the Supreme Court confirms a guilty verdict, Hwang's police status will be reinstated and disciplinary action will be taken.

On this day, the Supreme Court ruled, "If a resignation letter is submitted within the period specified in Article 53, Paragraph 1 of the Public Official Election Act, the position is considered vacated at the time of receipt of the resignation letter regardless of whether it is accepted, according to Article 53, Paragraph 4 of the same Act." Election lawsuits, such as election invalidation lawsuits and election result invalidation lawsuits, are conducted under the Supreme Court's single-instance system.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.