SEOUL -- South Korean opposition leader Lee Jae-myung was acquitted of election law violation by an appeal court on Wednesday.

The Seoul High Court overturned a lower court's ruling, saying Lee, chief of the main liberal opposition Democratic Party, made no false statements during the last presidential campaign.

Lee was handed a one-year prison term, suspended for two years, by the Seoul Central District Court last November on charges of dissemination of false information during the 2022 presidential election.

Prosecutors had sought a two-year jail sentence for Lee in the first and the appeal trials.