Democratic Party of Korea Rep. Lee Jae-myung appears for his trial at the Seoul central district court on Tuesday. (Yonhap)

The chair of the Democratic Party of Korea, Rep. Lee Jae-myung, has requested the judges be changed in one of his criminal trials, as an early presidential election appears likely with impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol awaiting the final verdict on his removal from office by the Constitutional Court.

Currently a defendant in four separate trials, Lee has regularly been absent at the National Assembly as his court schedules often collide with plenary sessions and other regular parliamentary duties.

Trying to have his case reassigned is a legal maneuver to hold up the proceedings and delay sentencing, possibly until after a potential election, according to the ruling People Power Party.

As Han Dong-hoon stepped down as People Power Party chair on Monday, he said the “clock is ticking” on Lee’s criminal cases.

The court handed Lee a suspended jail term in his first trial last month over election law violations. If the ruling stands following appeals slated for the first half of 2025, it could strip him of his ability to run for public office for the next five years -- a troubling outcome for his presidential prospects.

While seeking to delay his own trials, Lee has called for a “swift decision” from the Constitutional Court, which must decide within 180 days to sustain the National Assembly vote and remove Yoon from office or to reject the impeachment and keep him in power.

“The Constitutional Court should expedite the process of removing President Yoon from office, as that is the only way to minimize chaos in the country,” Lee said in a press conference Sunday, held the day after the Assembly voted to impeach Yoon.

So far Lee appears well on his way to be the Democratic Party front-runner for the presidential election that could take place some months from now if the Constitutional Court decides to uphold the Assembly’s impeachment of Yoon.

In the 2022 election, Lee ran as the Democratic Party presidential candidate against Yoon, who beat him by the thinnest margin in South Korean history of 0.73 percentage point.