Jo attempts to leave after opening remarks, as is customary
PPP: 'Jo was summoned as ordinary witness — must take oath and testify'
DP: 'Are we going to force the chief justice to sit down?'
Kim Eui-gyeom: 'It was the chief justice who broke with precedent first'
Park Hyeong-su: 'President Lee, who demanded re-nomination, should testify'
The ruling and opposition parties clashed Tuesday over Chief Justice Jo Hee-dae's refusal to comply with President Lee Jae Myung's demand that he re-nominate a Supreme Court justice candidate. The Democratic Party of Korea pressed to have Jo testify as an ordinary witness, while the People Power Party fired back that President Lee himself should appear before the committee — reprising nearly the same standoff over the chief justice's departure that erupted a year ago.
At the Legislation and Judiciary Committee's national audit of the Supreme Court, PPP lawmaker Park Hyeong-su, who leads his party's side on the committee, demanded that committee chair Seo Yeong-gyo clarify whether Jo would be allowed to leave after his opening remarks. Seo replied that Jo "appeared as an ordinary witness" and was therefore required to take the witness oath and answer questions.
Jo attended the audit and delivered opening remarks in keeping with custom, but declined to appear in the capacity of an ordinary witness as the ruling party had demanded. In his remarks, Jo said requiring the chief justice to testify about the nomination of Supreme Court justices "risks undermining the principle of separation of powers and judicial independence," adding that he found it "unavoidable" to decline such a request at this audit as well. His position — that he could not take the witness oath or testify — was unambiguous.
Jo said, however, that he too felt "a heavy sense of urgency about the need to fill the vacant Supreme Court seat," pledging to "do everything necessary to restore the full composition of the Supreme Court as swiftly as possible, in accordance with the principles set out in the Constitution and the law."
The PPP argued that it had long been customary for the chief justice to deliver opening remarks at the national audit and then step out, and pushed back against the Democratic Party's demand that Jo remain as a witness. Park said that "for decades, the practice has been for the chief justice to give opening remarks, leave, and then return at the close of the audit to say a few final words," adding: "He has already fully explained why he cannot appear as a witness, laid out the case for judicial independence, and stated his position on the justice nomination. What more do you need to hear that you would force the chief justice to sit here?"
Park also turned the blame for the delayed justice appointment onto President Lee. "The chief justice has already submitted his nomination," Park said. "Why has the appointment not gone through? Is it not because the president demanded a re-nomination from Cheong Wa Dae?" He then raised his voice: "Then who should come forward? President Lee should appear as a witness."
Kim Eui-gyeom, the Democratic Party lawmaker who leads his party's side on the committee, rebuffed that argument, saying the committee had voted at a previous session to summon Jo "not as an institutional witness but as an ordinary witness." "It was Chief Justice Jo who began breaking with precedent," Kim said. He added that since President Syngman Rhee, the nomination of Supreme Court justices had always proceeded through consultation and agreement between Cheong Wa Dae and the chief justice — and pointed to Jo's refusal to re-nominate as a departure from that tradition.
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