Lee Jae-myung Fails to Receive Court Documents, Delays Legal Proceedings

Lee Jae-myung (이재명), the leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, has not received legal documents related to his alleged violation of the Public Official Election Act for a week. In response, the Supreme Court has decided to send a court officer to deliver the documents directly.

According to legal sources on April 7, the Supreme Court sent a notification regarding the case to Lee on March 31, indicating that the appeal records had been filed. However, since Lee did not accept the documents, they were returned.

As a result, the Supreme Court has requested that a court officer from the Seoul Southern District Court and Incheon District Court deliver the documents directly to Lee's home and office. This direct delivery, known as 'special delivery,' is used when regular mail fails.

Although Lee's failure to receive the documents does not immediately disrupt the Supreme Court's proceedings, it could lead to delays in the overall schedule if he does not engage actively in the case moving forward.

Under criminal procedure law, the prosecution must submit a statement of grounds for appeal within 20 days of receiving the notification from the Supreme Court, while Lee's team has 10 days to respond after receiving the prosecution's statement.

If Lee does not submit a response by the deadline, the Supreme Court will appoint a presiding justice and begin the main proceedings. The court is expected to start hearing the case as early as May. However, if Lee does not receive the prosecution's statement, the timeline for his response could also be delayed, potentially pushing back the hearings.

This is not the first time Lee has failed to receive court documents. At the start of the appeal process, he missed two deliveries due to being untraceable and not being at home, raising suspicions that he might be attempting to delay the trial.

Lee was indicted in September 2022 for allegedly making false statements regarding the Daejang-dong development project and for claiming that the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport coerced him into changing land use designations. He was initially sentenced to one year in prison with a two-year probation, but was acquitted in the second trial on March 26. The prosecution has since appealed, and the case was filed with the Supreme Court on March 28.