owed by public officials is a constitutional request drawn from the status of public officials as 'civil servants for the entire citizenry' as set forth in Article 7(1) of the Constitution; the principle of free election set forth in Articles 41(1) and Article 67(1) of the Constitution; and the equal opportunity among the political parties guaranteed by Article 116(1) of the Constitution. Article 9 of the Public Officials Election Act is a legal provision that specifies and realizes the above constitutional request. 6. 'Public officials' within the meaning of Article 9 of the Public Officials Election Act mean any and all public officials who should be obligated to maintain neutrality concerning elections, that is, more specifically, any and all public officials who are in a position to threaten the 'principle of free election' and 'equal opportunity among the political parties at the election.' Considering that practically all public officials are in a position to exercise undue influence upon the election in the course of exercising official duties, the public officials here include, in principle, all public officials of the national and local governments, that is, all career public officials as narrowly defined, and, further include public officials at offices of political nature who serve the state through active political activities. Here, the exception is that members of the National Assembly and the members of the local legislatures are excluded from 'public officials' within the meaning of Article 9 of the Public Officials Election Act, as no political neutrality concerning elections can be requested from such members of the legislatures due to their status as the representatives of the political parties and the directly interested parties in the political campaign. Therefore, political neutrality at the election is a basic obligation owed by all public officials of the executive branch and of the judiciary. Furthermore, since the President bears the obligation to oversee and manage a fair electoral process as the head of the executive branch, the President is, as a matter of course, a 'public official' within the meaning of Article 9 of the Public Officials Election Act. 7. If the President makes a one-sided statement in support of a particular political party and influences the process through which the public opinion is formed, the President thereby interferes with and distorts the process of the independent formation of the public's opinion based on a just evaluation of the political parties and the candidates. This, at the same time, diminishes by half the meaning of the political activities continuously performed by the political parties and the candidates in the past several years in order to obtain the trust of the public, and thereby gravely depreciates the principle of parliamentary democracy. The relevant part of the President's statements at issue in this regard repeatedly and actively - 144 -