All appeals are dismissed.

The grounds of appeal are examined (to the extent of supplement in case of supplement in case of supplemental appellate briefs not timely filed).

1. Judgment on the grounds of appeal by the Defendants

A. An election campaign under the Act on the Election of Public Officials (1) refers to an act that can be objectively recognized for the purpose of promoting the election or defeat of a specific candidate in a specific election.

The intent of this objective is not only to express the explicit method of requesting support by disclosing the intent to leave a specific election but also to the extent that it can easily be inferred from the viewpoint of the elector in light of the circumstances at the time.

As above, there was an intent of the above purpose

In order to prosecute, only because it is not sufficient to confiscate the relationship with the election or there is motive for the matter related to the election, it should be based on the objective circumstance that the elector is clearly aware of the fact that he/she is an act of promoting the success in a specific election.

In particular, in light of the fact that the Public Official Election Act differently regulates a specific act according to the time of election, and that even the same act at the time when the act at issue was conducted may be perceived differently from the election in terms of the elector’s perspective, whether an act with such intent is an act ought to be determined by comprehensively observing and determining not only the name of the act, but also the time, place, method, etc. of the act (see Supreme Court Decision 2015Do11812, Aug. 26, 2016). (2) In light of the following circumstances, the lower court can easily see the intent of promoting the election of Defendant A in the 20th National Assembly member election from the perspective of the elector at the time.