'Yesterday you distorted the countersignature system — today you're misrepresenting the reason'

'Bypassing the recommendation committee and pressuring candidates to resign is a serious procedural flaw'

Chief Justice Jo Hee-dae arrives at the Supreme Court in Seocho-gu, Seoul, on Wednesday. [Yonhap]
Chief Justice Jo Hee-dae arrives at the Supreme Court in Seocho-gu, Seoul, on Wednesday. [Yonhap]

Cheong Wa Dae renewed its frontal criticism of Chief Justice Jo Hee-dae on Wednesday, saying the presidential office's official correspondence made it "plainly clear to any reader that the president has refused to appoint" the Supreme Court justice nominees. The statement directly rebuffed Jo's insistence that the grounds for requesting a reappointment were unclear. Cheong Wa Dae also said the chief justice's decision to contact each nominee individually to ask whether they would resign constituted a serious procedural flaw.

Cheong Wa Dae said Jo had claimed Wednesday that the Aug. 28 letter requesting a reappointment of nominees did not clearly state the reason for the request. It pushed back, quoting the letter at length. Under the heading "Request for Reappointment of Supreme Court Justice Nominees," the document stated that, in connection with the Aug. 18 recommendation of nominees for appointment as Supreme Court justices, the president had decided not to submit a motion for National Assembly consent for nominee Son Bong-gi — one of the two nominees recommended — pursuant to Article 104, Paragraph 2 of the Constitution and Article 41, Paragraph 2 of the Court Organization Act, and therefore requested that the chief justice reappoint a nominee.

"The statement in the official letter that the president would not submit a motion for National Assembly consent for nominee Son Bong-gi makes clear the president's refusal to appoint — that is, his intention not to appoint by declining to carry out the necessary procedures," Cheong Wa Dae said. "This is the reason the letter requested a reappointment as the next step." It also said that when submitting a motion for National Assembly consent, the proposal must explicitly state that consent is being sought to appoint the individual as a Supreme Court justice under Article 104, Paragraph 2 of the Constitution. Submitting such a motion for a nominee the president has no intention of appointing would be both contradictory and disrespectful to the National Assembly, it added.

Cheong Wa Dae also took issue with what it described as the chief justice's shifting positions. "Yesterday, the chief justice distorted the reappointment request letter as though it were somehow deficient under the constitutional principles of written documentation and the countersignature system — only to retreat today and say his remarks had been a matter of general principle," it said. "Today, despite the fact that the letter makes the president's refusal to appoint plainly clear to any reader and that this is the reason for the reappointment request, the chief justice is misrepresenting the situation by claiming the reason for the request is unclear."

Cheong Wa Dae also took direct aim at what it called procedural flaws in the chief justice's own nomination process. It said Jo had stated Wednesday that he found it difficult to accept that any procedural flaw existed in the recommendation process. "However, despite having lawfully received four nominees from the Supreme Court Justice Candidate Recommendation Committee under the Court Organization Act, contacting each nominee individually without any legal basis to ask whether they would resign — in order to restart the candidate recommendation process — constitutes a serious procedural flaw," the presidential office said. It added that the very attempt to exclude lawfully recommended nominees from consideration undermines the fairness of the process.

Cheong Wa Dae urged the chief justice to act swiftly. "If the chief justice views the president's power to appoint Supreme Court justices as a mere formality — one that requires him to simply follow whoever is recommended — he will find it difficult to accept the president's refusal to appoint and request for reappointment at face value," it said. It urged Jo to "understand the contents of the official correspondence from the perspective of an ordinary citizen with common sense and promptly take the necessary follow-up steps so that the people's right to a fair trial is not infringed."


sunpine@heraldcorp.com