PPP faces W39.7b repayment as Yoon's election law appeal verdict looms

South Korea's political world is on edge Wednesday ahead of the afternoon appeals court verdict in former President Yoon Suk Yeol's Public Official Election Act violation case.

If the Seoul High Court upholds Yoon's guilty verdict, the People Power Party could be forced to return 39.7 billion won ($29.6 million) in campaign funds it received as reimbursement from the last presidential election, sharpening tensions between the ruling and opposition parties. The Democratic Party of Korea is pressing the PPP to return the funds immediately, while the PPP is firing back by pointing to President Lee Jae Myung's own pending election law case.

The Seoul High Court's Criminal Division 2-1, presided over by judges Baek Seung-yeop, Hwang Seung-tae and Kim Yeong-hyeon, is set to deliver its ruling at 2 p.m. Wednesday. The sentencing will be broadcast live on television and YouTube.

Yoon was indicted in December last year on charges of making false public statements during the 2021 presidential campaign while serving as the PPP's presidential candidate. The first-instance court found him guilty on all charges and sentenced him to 18 months in prison, suspended for three years.

The special prosecutor has maintained that Yoon's false statements influenced the outcome of the election. Yoon's defense team has argued the statements in question cannot be considered false and has sought an acquittal. The appeals court is expected to focus on whether the statements were indeed false and on the appropriate sentence.

The verdict also carries direct implications for the PPP's campaign finance obligations. Under the Public Official Election Act, if a winner is convicted by the Supreme Court of an election-related offense and fined 1 million won or more, the election result is invalidated. In that scenario, the PPP would be required to return the 39.7 billion won in campaign reimbursements it received.

However, a guilty verdict at the appeals stage would not immediately trigger a repayment obligation. Whether Yoon appeals to the Supreme Court will determine whether a final ruling is needed, making Wednesday's decision a pivotal juncture in the repayment question.

The Democratic Party has been pressing the PPP over the campaign funds since the first-instance guilty verdict. Floor spokesperson Lee Ju-hee said Tuesday, "If the sentence is finalized, the PPP must return all 39.7 billion won in reimbursed campaign funds," adding, "We urge the court to deliver a judgment in line with the law, principle and public common sense."

The PPP has said it will wait and see how the appeals court rules, while also pointing to President Lee Jae Myung's own Public Official Election Act case. The Democratic Party, too, faces a potential obligation to return 43.4 billion won in campaign reimbursements from the last presidential election if Lee's conviction is finalized.

A senior PPP leadership official said the party may pursue the case all the way to the Supreme Court depending on the appeals verdict, but added that the Democratic Party was in no position to demand repayment. "In President Lee's case, the Supreme Court remanded the case for retrial, effectively halting proceedings, so the Democratic Party has not returned its campaign funds," the official said. "This unfairness needs to be addressed first."