Jang Dong-hyuk, leader of the People Power Party, called on Supreme Court Chief Justice Jo Hee-de to "firmly reject the unconstitutional demand for a renewed nomination and declare the resumption of President Lee Jae-myung's trials," as the chief justice remains at odds with the president and the ruling Democratic Party over the nomination of Supreme Court justice candidates.
Jang made the remarks at a party supreme council meeting he chaired at the National Assembly on the 31st, saying the chief justice "is said to be issuing an official position this week, and he must formally declare the independence of the judiciary." He stressed that "if the judiciary yields to the power of this administration here, there is no future for the Republic of Korea."
Jang said the president's rejection of the chief justice's nomination of Supreme Court justice candidates amounted to a demand that he instead nominate justices of the president's own choosing. He went on to argue that the judge the president is fixated on "acquitted Kim Man-bae [a private developer in the Daejang-dong case], and both he and his wife came out of the Society for Research on Our Law." Jang added: "Isn't the intent plain to see? In the end, it means filling the Supreme Court with judges who will declare him not guilty."
Jang also sharply criticized the mid-scale cabinet reshuffle announced by the presidential office on the 30th, calling it "a reshuffle aimed at cancelling trials." He said that "if the president does not change his thinking, if he does not replace them with people who will work properly, then in the end the people will replace the president."
He said the president "named Rep. Kim Seung-won, co-chair of the group pushing to withdraw the indictment, as justice minister. He is the figure leading the special counsel bill to withdraw the indictment and the removal of the breach-of-trust offense." Jang added: "If someone like this becomes justice minister, it is obvious without looking what he will do. It means going all in on cancelling the trials even if the public objects."
He continued: "Looking at the lineup of minister nominees, perhaps because all their energy went into choosing the justice minister, the remaining nominees are nothing but disappointing." He said the administration "put the chief culprit behind the property tax bomb in charge of the Ministry of Economy and Finance, and seated the designer of the president's Gyeonggi Province basic housing program as land minister." He also said the administration "threw out an absurd Yong Hye-in card in response to youth anger," while "Kim Yong-beom, the presidential office policy chief the public actually wants ousted, was simply left in place. Unification Minister Chung Dong-young, who is tearing down the Korea-U.S. alliance, also kept his post."
Jang was particularly pointed about Defense Minister Ahn Gyu-back, who is being replaced, saying: "He stepped down without clearing up the desertion allegations. He must keep his promise to disclose his military service records once he leaves the ministry."
