the Public Official Election Act (amended by Act No. 6265, Feb. 16, 2000), and Article 82-2 Section 12
of the Public Official Election Act (amended by Act No.7681, Aug. 4, 2005) (hereinafter collectively
referred to as “Provisions on Korean Sign Language or Captions of this case”) violate the fundamental
rights of Complainant Yoon ○○, Complainant Kim □□, and Complainant Kim △△ and Ham ▲▲,
respectively.
Public Official Election Act (Amended by Act No. 15551, Apr.6, 2018)
Article 65 (Election Campaign Bulletins) (4) Any candidate may prepare election campaign bulletins of
one kind (hereinafter referred to as
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"election campaign bulletins in braille") for visually impaired electors (referring to visually impaired
persons who are registered pursuant to Article 32 of the Act on Welfare of Persons with Disabilities; the
same shall apply hereafter in this Article) within the number of pages of booklet-type election campaign
bulletins under Section 2, other than the election campaign bulletins referred to in Section 1: Provided,
That a candidate running in a presidential election, an election of National Assembly members of local
constituency, or an election of the head of a local government shall prepare and submit election
campaign bulletins in braille; however, such election campaign bulletins may be substituted by printready barcodes whose contents are converted into voice or braille output.
Public Official Election Act (Amended by Act No. 6265, Feb.16, 2000)
Article 70 (Broadcast Advertisements) (6) the candidate may, in making a broadcast advertisement
under Section 1, air the finger language or a caption for the electors with a defective auditory sense.
Article 71 (Broadcast Speech of Candidates, etc.) (3) The latter part of Article 70 (1), Article 70 (6), and
(8), shall apply mutatis mutandis to broadcast speeches of the candidates, etc.
Article 72 (Broadcast of Candidate’s Campaign Speeches Supervised by Broadcasting Facilities) (2) In
making a broadcast of the candidates' campaign speeches under Section 1, sign language or a caption
may be aired for the hearing impaired electors.
Public Official Election Act (Amended by Act No. 7681, Aug.4, 2005)
Article 82-2 (Interviews or Debates Supervised by Election Debate Broadcasting Committee) (12) When
the Election Debate Broadcasting Committee of each level holds the interviews or debates, it may
conduct a superimposed broadcasting or a sign language interpretation for the hearing impaired
electors.
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Summary of the Decision
1. Watching Prohibition of this case
The Watching Prohibition of this case was rendered as part of military training to nurture those assigned
to supplementary service as military resources and help them adjust to military life. Given the facts that
(1) allowing the presidential election interviews and debates to be watched would have posed a high
possibility of interference with the military training, considering the time of broadcasting; (2) no