Ruling Party Lawmakers Rally at Supreme Court to Protest Refusal to Renominate Justice Candidates
Eighteen lawmakers of the Democratic Party of Korea visited the Supreme Court in Seocho-gu, Seoul, on the afternoon of the 23rd to protest Chief Justice Cho Hee-de's refusal to make a 'renomination request' for the appointment of Supreme Court justice candidates. Renomination refers to the Chief Justice resubmitting a candidate selected by the National Assembly to the president for appointment. The lawmakers criticized the move, saying it was "tantamount to stabbing in the back the president and others who are away on an overseas trip." Rep. Han Byung-do, the party's floor leader, joined the lawmakers on a protest visit to the Supreme Court and held a press conference, urging the court to "stop political warfare using the nomination authority as a weapon and renominate a justice candidate that meets the public's expectations." However, Chief Justice Cho was absent, and no meeting with the lawmakers took place.
The Democratic Party leadership collectively targeted Chief Justice Cho Hee-de at the party's Supreme Council meeting at the National Assembly on the morning of the 23rd. Party Chairman Kim Min-seok characterized the refusal to renominate as an "unprecedented unconstitutional, unlawful, and insurrectionary" act and "contemptuous malfeasance toward the people," declaring, "We will use every power of the National Assembly to investigate, summon, censure, and hold [him] legally accountable." Seo Mi-hwa, a member of the party's Supreme Council, referred to the chief justice as 'Mr. Cho Hee-de' and charged that he "made a reckless attempt to overturn the people's Chuseok holiday tables." Supreme Council member Han Min-soo warned, "We warn Chief Justice Cho, who appears to have launched a full-fledged political struggle."
Rep. Seo Young-kyo, chair of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee, criticized Cho's absence after the protest visit, saying, "They said he went to a hospital—I hate to put it this way, but hasn't he basically fled?" She said she asked the deputy director of the National Court Administration whether there had been court-level discussions before the announcement of the refusal to renominate, and was told it did not know, asserting, "Without properly deliberating or publicly discussing the matter, they arbitrarily took a rationale and used it to refuse."
Impeachment talk, which had subsided, resurfaced. Rep. Park Jie-won wrote on Facebook, "Chief Justice Cho Hee-de must be impeached. The goal should be dismissal, but at the very least his duties must be suspended immediately." Rep. Song Young-gil also said it was "an act of usurpation to anyone who looks at it" and "constitutes grounds for impeachment." The leadership, however, remained cautious about pursuing impeachment. Cheon Jun-ho, the party's senior deputy floor leader for operations, avoided a direct answer, saying, "We will seek a response after comprehensively reviewing the Supreme Court's position."
