Supreme Court Chief Justice Jo Hee-de on the 6th rejected a lawmaker's suggestion that he was seeking to emulate former President Yoon Suk-yeol, calling the remark "insulting and somewhat saddening."
Jo made the comment during a parliamentary audit by the National Assembly's Legislation and Judiciary Committee, after Rep. Son Sol of the Progressive Party said, "Many citizens are asking whether you are now doing politics in judicial robes," and then asked, "Are you perhaps dreaming of becoming a second Yoon Suk-yeol?"
In January this year, the Supreme Court Justice Candidate Recommendation Committee recommended four candidates to succeed former Justice Noh Tae-ak: Kim Min-ki and Park Soon-young, both senior judges at the Seoul High Court; Yoon Sung-sik, a senior judge at the Seoul High Court; and Son Bong-gi, a senior judge at the Daegu District Court. But the presidential office and the judiciary failed to narrow their differences over the final nominee, prolonging the standoff. In August, Jo broke with precedent and nominated Son, a candidate on whom no agreement had been reached with the presidential office. The presidential office then asked him to submit a new nomination, saying the process lacked procedural completeness, but Jo refused, demanding that it provide the grounds and constitutional basis for the request.
In his opening remarks, Jo said the presidential office's written request for a renewed nomination "did not clearly state specific grounds or a constitutional basis, which we judged made it difficult to proceed with subsequent steps." He added, "It was also hard to grasp the intent from the contents of the document alone."
Jo continued, "Based on these circumstances, we judged that there were difficulties in proceeding with the subsequent steps," adding, "This followed the principle that the chief justice's power of nomination, the National Assembly's power of consent and the president's power of appointment must each be respected in line with their constitutional meaning."
