Article 53 (Candidacy of Public Officials)
(1) Any of the following persons who intends to be a candidate shall resign his or her post 90 days before
the election day: Provided, That the same shall not apply where any member of the National Assembly
runs in a presidential election or a National Assembly election with his or her present post held, and where
any local council member or the head of a local government runs in an election of the relevant local
council members or the head of the relevant local government with his or her present post held: <Amended
on Apr. 1, 1995; Dec. 30, 1995; Nov. 14, 1997; Apr. 30, 1998; Feb. 16, 2000; Mar. 7, 2002; Aug. 4, 2005; Jan. 25,
2010; Dec. 24, 2015; Dec. 29, 2020>
1. A State public official provided for in Article 2 of the State Public Officials Act and a local public
official provided for in Article 2 of the Local Public Officials Act: Provided, That the same shall not
apply to a public official (excluding the one in political service) who is eligible to become a party
member as provided for in the proviso of Article 22 (1) 1 of the Political Parties Act;
2. A member of an election commission of each level or a member of an educational committee;
3. A person who has the status of a public official as prescribed by other statutes or regulations;
4. A full-time executive officer of an institution (including the Bank of Korea), at least 50/100 shares of
which are owned by the Government, from among institutions falling under Article 4 (1) 3 of the Act on
the Management of Public Institutions;
5. A full-time executive officer of the cooperatives established under the Agricultural Cooperatives Act,
the Fisheries Cooperatives Act, the Forestry Cooperatives Act, the Tobacco Producers Cooperatives
Act, or the chairmen of their central organizations;
6. A full-time executive officer of a local public corporation or local industrial complex provided for in
Article 2 of the Local Public Enterprises Act;
7. A private school teacher who is ineligible for a party membership as provided for in Article 22 (1) 2
of the Political Parties Act;
8. A person who issues or manages newspapers and online newspapers defined in Article 2 of the Act
on the Promotion of Newspapers, periodicals defined in Article 2 of the Act on Promotion of
Periodicals, including Magazines, or a broadcasting business defined in Article 2 of the Broadcasting
Act; and journalists prescribed by the National Election Commission Regulations who are engaged in
the affairs of editing, producing, news gathering, writing, or media reporting as full-time employees of
the aforesaid media;
9. The representative of an organization (referring to the Society for a Better Tomorrow, the Saemaul
Movement Council and the Korea Freedom Federation, and including City/Do organizations and Gu/Si/
Gun organizations thereof) invested or subsidized by the State or local governments as a national
movement organization established under Special Acts.
(2) In any of the following cases, a candidate shall resign his or her post no later than 30 days prior to the
election day, notwithstanding the main clause of paragraph (1): <Newly Inserted on Jan. 25, 2010; Aug. 13,
2015>
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