Court: "Bar Association's 'Request to Delete Candidate's Campaign Materials' Violates Freedom of Expression and Election Campaigning"

"Content in Publicity Materials Related to the Bar Association and Seoul Chapter Is Not Illegal"
"Decision to Send First Publicity Materials, Which Were Deleted in the Second Mailing, Together"

Attorney Ahn Byung-hee, who is running for the 52nd President of the Korean Bar Association, and members of his campaign committee held a press conference on the morning of the 12th in front of the Seoul Central District Court in Seocho-dong, Seocho-gu, Seoul, to file a provisional injunction regarding election promotional materials decided by the Election Management Committee of the Bar Association.
[Photo by Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Seok-jin, Legal Affairs Specialist] A court ruling has found that the Korea Bar Association's (KBA) Election Commission's action to request the deletion of part of a candidate's election campaign material in the KBA president election violated the candidate's political freedom of expression, freedom of election campaigning, and the right of the association members to be informed.

On the 20th, the Seoul Central District Court Civil Division 51 (Presiding Judge Jeon Bo-seong) partially granted the provisional injunction filed by candidate Ahn Byung-hee (60, 7th Military Legal Officer) against the KBA in the election campaign interference prohibition case, ordering, "The debtor (KBA) must send the printed materials submitted by the creditor (Ahn Byung-hee) together when dispatching the second round of election printed materials for the KBA president election scheduled for December 23."

However, the court did not accept the request for indirect enforcement, which demanded that if the KBA violates the court order, it must pay Ahn 10 million KRW per day until compliance, citing insufficient evidence of necessity.

According to the court's decision, the KBA must send Ahn's campaign materials, which were deleted during the first round of distribution, together with the second round of election materials on the 23rd.

The KBA president election campaign began on the 2nd, and voting is scheduled for the 16th of next month. Candidates send their campaign materials in file form to the KBA Election Commission, which prints and sends them to lawyer voters in three rounds.

Earlier, on the 8th, the KBA Election Commission requested partial revisions and deletions of candidate Ahn's campaign draft, citing violations of the "Rules for the Election of the President and Delegates," which prohibit acts that damage the honor and dignity of lawyer organizations. They also pointed out violations of enforcement regulations that prohibit mentioning other candidates.

The campaign material that the Election Commission requested to delete included statements such as "Over the past two years, lawyers from specific groups have monopolized the KBA and Seoul Bar Association's key positions alternately, handled platform and related litigation cases, and significantly raised the additional expense limits for executives."

The material also listed platform-related constitutional lawsuits, criminal complaints, and media correction claims handled by five current KBA executives. It included details that the additional expense limits for five executives?former and current officers of the Korean Legal Professionals Association, including the Seoul Bar Association president, secretary-general, legislative director, deputy secretary-general, and finance director?were raised by 66%, from 3 million KRW to 5 million KRW per month.

Additionally, the material stated that "pursuing private interests with members' dues and treating association affairs as a means of making money must be eradicated," and that "the KBA and Seoul Bar Association engaged in abnormal use of dues, including donating 30 million KRW to a specific group under the name of support funds."

In response to the Election Commission's comments, Ahn's side revised "self-acceptance" to "acceptance" and "self-increase" to "increase," and removed current titles from the executives' acceptance records.

However, on the 9th, the Election Commission demanded the deletion of two entire pages out of the 12 pages of Ahn's campaign material and notified that if the revised draft reflecting their demands was not submitted by 9 a.m. on the 12th, the first round of Ahn's printed materials would not be sent.

Accordingly, Ahn deleted the content pointed out by the Election Commission in time for the first round of distribution, replacing it with black pages, and filed a provisional injunction with the court requesting that the first revised version be sent as is from the second round of distribution scheduled for the 22nd.

The court judged that Ahn's request for a provisional injunction to have the first campaign materials, deleted at the Election Commission's request, sent together with the second round was justified in terms of the right to be preserved and the necessity of preservation.

First, the court ruled that the expressions deleted from Ahn's campaign materials were matters of common interest or public concern to lawyers belonging to the KBA or Seoul Bar Association, and thus were sufficiently legitimate issues for a candidate to raise; therefore, they could not be regarded as expressions that damage the honor and dignity of lawyers or lawyer organizations or as illegal expressions.

The court stated, "Freedom of election campaigning related to any organization's election enables free and open political opinion formation, so this freedom must be maximally guaranteed. Although restrictions on the subject, timing, and methods of election campaigning are sometimes inevitable, such regulations, if excessive, risk infringing on the freedom of election campaigning and should be limited to the minimum necessary for a fair and free election."

Regarding the KBA's reason for refusing to send Ahn's campaign materials?"acts that damage the honor and dignity of lawyers and lawyer organizations externally"?the court pointed out, "The wording itself is abstract and evaluative, thus unclear. Considering the significance of freedom of election campaigning, caution is needed when judging whether any election campaign falls under this rule as an act damaging honor and dignity."

It added, "It is common in elections for candidates to criticize the current administration's policies and pledge reforms. Such criticism should not be dismissed; if it is reasonable based on good faith and social norms, it should be considered within the permissible scope of election campaigning."

The court further stated, "The content of the printed materials prepared during the president election, which reveal that the current administration has handled numerous lawsuits related to similar professions and significantly raised the additional expense limits of the Seoul Bar Association's executive board affiliated with the debtor association," while the content concerns the debtor's executives' honor or the Seoul Bar Association, given the nature and membership composition of the debtor association, these are matters of common interest or public concern to the debtor members and fall within the scope of issues a candidate can legitimately raise."

It emphasized, "Therefore, the content of the printed materials is a criticism permissible within good faith and social norms and cannot be regarded as expressions that damage the honor and dignity of lawyers or lawyer organizations or as illegal expressions."

Moreover, the court judged that the Election Commission's final demand to delete two pages of the campaign materials and refusal to send the materials if the demand was not met violated Ahn's political freedom of expression, freedom of election campaigning, and the right of affiliated lawyers to be informed, exceeding the Election Commission's authority.

The court pointed out, "The debtor reviewed the first draft of the election printed materials submitted by the creditor, requested partial revisions or deletions, and ultimately demanded deletion of two entire pages out of the total 12 pages, notifying that the printed materials would not be sent if not complied with. Consequently, the creditor produced the first printed materials with two pages deleted out of the original 12. This infringes on the creditor's political freedom of expression, freedom of election campaigning, and members' right to be informed, exceeding the limits of the Election Commission's authority."

After the decision, Ahn's side issued a press release informing the court's ruling, stating, "This concludes the matter with the court judging that the KBA Election Commission's prior censorship of election printed materials to favor candidates who are former KBA vice presidents was unjust. However, during this process, members of the current KBA administration verbally abused reporters who covered Ahn's provisional injunction application and threatened legal disputes, causing some disturbances."

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