The above statement was made as a response to a reporter's question asking 'when the President would join the Uri Party,' and, as such, was a mere expression by the President, who is permitted to have party membership, stating the party that he supported and his position as to whether he would join such party and, if so, when. Therefore, since the President did not intend through the above statements to support a particular political party concerning the election or thereby to influence the election, the above statement did not constitute a violation of the neutrality obligation concerning elections owed by public officials or an electoral campaign activity. (4) Remark at the meeting with the Gangwon-Do region journalists on February 5, 2004 Pursuant to the acknowledged facts, the President at the meeting with the journalists in the Gangwon-Do region on February 5, 2004, stated that "the Citizen Participation 0415 (Kook-Cham 0415) members' participation in politics should be permitted and encouraged both legally and politically." The above statement was made as a response to the question asking the "President's opinion as to the debate concerning the Citizen Participation 0415's activities declaring to have certain candidates win the election as illegal intervention into the election." As such, the statement is understood to mean that, 'in order to be an advanced electoral culture, we should encourage voluntary participation and activities of the citizenry, and in order to achieve this goal the citizen participation in politics should be legally permitted as widely as possible, and at the least a generous legal interpretation is required as long as it is not against the law.' Therefore, the above statement was a mere expression of the respondent's personal opinion upon the aspect of the public participation in politics, and thereby did not constitute a violation of the neutrality obligation concerning elections or the prohibition of electoral campaign activities. (5) The "Uri Party Strategy for the 17th General Election" reported in Joong-Ang Ilbo dated February 27, 2004 The Joong-Ang Ilbo reported with respect to a classified document entitled "Uri Party Strategy for the 17th General Election" on February 27, 2004, which posed suspicion as to the organizational intervention of Cheong Wa Dae into the election. However, even under the entire evidence submitted and accepted during the proceedings in this case, there is no finding that the respondent directed or was involved in the election strategy of the Uri Party. Therefore, there is no valid - 182 -