Democratic Party floor leader Han Byung-do said on the 25th that his party will bring a resolution calling for the expulsion of Rep. Lee Jin-sook of the People Power Party to a vote under National Assembly procedures unless the opposition cooperates by the end of the day.
Speaking at a floor strategy meeting at the National Assembly, Han said the People Power Party should enter talks on the resolution urging Lee's expulsion. "If they refuse by today, we will bring it to a vote under National Assembly procedures," he said.
Han said Lee had again made inflammatory remarks after pushing ahead with a forum that disparaged the May 18 Gwangju Democratization Movement as a "riot" and denied former President Chun Doo-hwan's responsibility. He said that on the 21st, Lee told young local council members of the People Power Party that South Korea had become "70% a people's democratic republic," and that it was disgraceful and shameful to live under President Lee Jae-myung.
"Just 10 days after insulting the May 18 movement, she even denied the legitimacy of the National Assembly elected by the people," Han said, noting that Lee had filed a defamation complaint against Democratic Party leader Kim Min-seok. "This is the height of shamelessness," he said. "How can she feel so strongly about the insults she has received, yet feel not a shred of guilt over the honor of the May 18 movement she trampled on, or over the insults suffered by the citizens of Gwangju and the people?" he said, adding that the People Power Party must decide clearly whether it intends to keep acting as a "shield for Lee Jin-sook."
On the matter of Supreme Court Chief Justice Cho Hee-dae's nominations for Supreme Court justices, Han demanded that officials appear for questioning at the Legislation and Judiciary Committee on the 31st. Han said that in a congratulatory address at a lawyers' convention the previous day, Cho had said the value of the rule of law — controlling the arbitrary exercise of state power and guaranteeing the freedom and rights of the people — was precious. Calling it "well said," Han added that "the very power that should be the first to have those words applied to it is the chief justice's authority to nominate justices."
Han said that what Court Administration head Roh Kyung-pil had disclosed at the National Assembly was that he had directly contacted the four candidates lawfully recommended by the justices recommendation committee, and had sounded out the option of restarting the recommendation process from the beginning. "When some candidates refused and that attempt fell through, Cho pushed ahead with the nominations in writing without any consultation," Han said. "A reasonable suspicion has been raised that the intent may be to induce the government to reject the nominations, then restart the recommendation process from scratch and form a new pool of candidates to his liking."
"Cho Hee-dae and Roh Kyung-pil should appear for the questioning at the Legislation and Judiciary Committee on the 31st," he said. "I hope they will answer directly, before the people, as to who called the candidates and why, and for what reason the nominations were pushed through without consultation."
On the death of a woman who had gone missing on Jeju, Han called for a reform of police investigations. "They lied that her safety had been confirmed without even contacting the missing person, and falsely closed the case," Han said. "The police must fully disclose the entire scope of the false closure, along with responsibility for command and supervision, and impose exemplary punishment on those involved." He stressed that "police who fail to earn the public's trust have no reason to exist," and that "the police must present a fundamental reform plan that the public can accept."
