1. Article 96(1) of the Public Official Election Act provides that no one shall publish or report the results of a public opinion poll on election;

Article 252(2) provides that “A person who violates Article 96(1) shall be punished by imprisonment for not more than five years or by a fine not less than three million won but not more than twenty million won.”

“......”

This is a provision to ensure the fairness of election by punishing the act that affects the judgment of the elector by using the trust in the fairness of the public opinion poll.

The prior meaning of “distort” is “distort or misleading interpretation or misunderstanding of facts,” and the prior meaning of “distorting” is “nicking to what extent it does not fit to what see.”

The distortion of facts shall be made by means of expressing a fact that cannot be the whole truth by hiding a part of the fact, adding a false fact, or by making a exaggeration, leap or manipulating it.

The Act on the Election of Public Officials provides that “the distortion of facts” and “the distortion of facts” are selected (Article 96(2)), and it does not exclude any falsity (Article 8-6(4)). In full view of the meaning of such distortion and the legislative purpose of Articles 96(1) and 252(2) of the Act on the Election of Public Officials as seen earlier, it is reasonable to view that the act distorted the outcome of public opinion poll includes not only artificially manipulating the outcome of public opinion poll existing in a public opinion poll or artificially manipulating it in a public opinion poll that is being conducted, but also creating a result as if it was conducted even without a public opinion poll.

On the other hand, it is a case where another person makes a public announcement of the results of a public opinion poll with the knowledge of such circumstances.