First instance body dealing with electoral disputes

Law on Election to Public Offices

(Enacted 1994; last amended 2014)

http://www.law.go.kr/lsInfoP.do?lsiSeq=143034

Article 222

(1) 대통령선거 및 국회의원선거에 있어서 선거의 효력에 관하여 이의가 있는 선거인ㆍ정당 (후보자를 추천한 정당에 한한다) 또는 후보자는 선거일부터 30일이내에 당해 선거구 선거관리위원회 위원장을 피고로 하여 대법원에 소를 제기할 수 있다.

Supreme Court of Korea, Official Website

(Accessed Dec. 1, 2013)

http://eng.scourt.go.kr/eng/supreme/jurisdiction.jsp

“As the court of last resort, the Supreme Court hears appeals fromjudgments or rulings rendered by the High Courts, the Patent Court, and theappellate panels of the District Courts or the Family Court in civil, criminal,administrative, patent and domestic relations cases. […] It also has exclusivejurisdiction over the validity of the presidential or parliamentary election.”

The Lawon Election to Public Offices states that complaints relating to presidentialor national parliamentary elections are to be directly submitted to the SupremeCourt. The Supreme Court has “exclusive jurisdiction over the validity of thepresidential or parliamentary election.”

The Supreme Court is thus the only Electoral Dispute Resolution body forchallenges to election results for both parliamentary and presidentialelections in the Republic of Korea.