The standoff between the government and the ruling party on one side and Supreme Court Chief Justice Jo Hee-de on the other over the nomination of a Supreme Court justice shows no sign of narrowing. Jo, who has refused the presidential office's demand to submit a new nomination, said he would explain his position through the parliamentary audit. The Democratic Party plans to summon him not as an agency head delivering opening remarks but as a regular witness at the audit.
Asked by reporters on his way into the Supreme Court building in Seoul's Seocho district on the 28th whether he intends to keep Son Bong-gi as his nominee, Jo said: "The request that came was only to 'submit a new nomination.' Going forward, if there is anything that needs to be said, I will convey it through the court spokesman, including at the parliamentary audit." His remarks were seen as restating that the presidential office gave no reasons or grounds when it asked for a new nomination.
Jo attended the Legislation and Judiciary Committee's audit of the Supreme Court at the National Assembly on Oct. 13 last year, where he read prepared opening remarks as the agency head, as is customary. He then declined to answer questions from Democratic Party lawmakers without taking a witness oath and left after about an hour.
Unable to find common ground with the presidential office over the nomination, Jo broke with the practice of reaching agreement with the presidential office and nominated Son Bong-gi on the 18th of last month. Ten days later, on Aug. 28, the presidential office effectively rejected the written nomination, calling it "a unilateral written nomination made without substantive consultation," and demanded a new one. Jo told reporters on the 22nd, 25 days after that demand, that he "cannot comply with the request for a new nomination."
The Democratic Party kept up a broad offensive against Jo on the same day. At a full meeting of the National Assembly's Legislation and Judiciary Committee, the party pressed Noh Kyung-pil, head of the National Court Administration, over how the refusal was decided, while also planning to summon Jo as a regular witness at the parliamentary audit.
Chief spokesman Park Sung-joon told reporters after a supreme council meeting that "questions have been raised that the chief justice flew into a rage and brushed aside the National Court Administration's view that the new nomination should be accepted." He added: "Administration head Noh is attending the committee's emergency questioning session, and the Supreme Court needs to explain the procedural process — whose views it gathered and how it reached its conclusion."
Rep. Seo Young-kyo, who chairs the Legislation and Judiciary Committee, said on a broadcast program that "the law requires anyone asked to appear as a witness at a parliamentary audit to do so, and there are even provisions to punish those who fail to appear." She added, "We will demand that the chief justice appear as a witness." Asked whether she believes there are sufficient grounds to impeach Jo, she said, "Yes."
