More than 60 cases have been filed with the Constitutional Court in the five days since South Korea implemented a new system allowing constitutional appeals against court rulings.
According to the Constitutional Court on the 16th, 44 constitutional appeals were filed from December 12, the first day of implementation, through the previous day. These included 31 electronic filings, 5 in-person submissions, and 8 postal applications.
As of 9 p.m. on the 16th, 18 additional cases had been filed through the Electronic Constitutional Court Center, bringing the five-day cumulative total to 62.
Three individuals, including a person identified as "A," who were convicted on separate charges during the investigation into "former Ulsan Mayor Song Cheol-ho's illegal political fund receipts," have filed constitutional appeals. They argued their fundamental rights were violated because the Supreme Court used identical reasoning in all three rejection decisions. The three had their guilty verdicts finalized together on November 13.
Attorney Shim Kyu-myung of Jeongwoo Law Firm, representing the petitioners, said, "The three had different grounds for appeal, yet their written decisions were identical. Their right to a fair trial was violated. The warrant requirement regarding evidence was also violated."
Jang Young-ha, chairman of the People Power Party's Seongnam Sujeong District chapter in Gyeonggi Province, whose sentence of one year in prison with two years' probation was finalized by the Supreme Court on December 12, recently filed a constitutional appeal, calling the ruling "a decision that directly violates the principles of legality and due process." Jang was indicted for alleged false fact dissemination under the Public Official Election Act after raising allegations that Lee Jae-myung, then leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, "had ties to organized crime" ahead of the 20th presidential election.