The People Power Party on the 12th sharply criticized the presidential office for demanding a new nomination for a Supreme Court justice, saying the move was "aimed at bending the courts to its own taste."
Jang Dong-hyuk, leader of the People Power Party, said in a Facebook post that day, "The argument to 'respect the recommendation committee' ultimately amounts to a call to nominate Kim Min-ki." He added, "The goal is to install Kim Min-ki as a Supreme Court justice and force through an acquittal for President Lee Jae-myung."
Jang went on to say, "President Lee Jae-myung said that 'appointed power must respect elected power.'" He continued, "The notion that 'elected power' stands above 'appointed power' denies the separation of powers, and that is precisely how dictatorship begins."
"Hitler, too, built the Nazi dictatorship by invoking elected power," Jang said, stressing that "the role of appointed power is to check the runaway conduct of elected power." He added, "What the Supreme Court must do now is nothing other than resume Lee Jae-myung's trial," calling it "the only way to protect the independence of the judiciary and the liberal democracy of the Republic of Korea."
Targeting the president's past remarks about "permanent responsibility for state violence," Jang said, "Tearing down the courts to win yourself an exoneration is exactly what state violence is." He criticized the administration further, saying, "Plundering the people's assets with a tax bomb, and threatening the lives and safety of the people by dismantling the prosecution service — that is state violence."
He also interpreted Supreme Court Chief Justice Jo Hee-de's address marking Judiciary Day as "an appeal to the public to help defend the independence of the courts against undue interference by political power and social forces."
Criticism from the party leadership followed. Chief Spokesperson Park Sung-hoon said in a statement that "the reason the chief justice issued such an unusually strong message is that President Lee refused to accept nominee Son Bong-gi, who was put forward in accordance with the Constitution, and is now openly signaling whom he wants nominated instead."
Park said, "If the president begins picking the officials he wants and steering the composition of the Supreme Court, the public will have no choice but to suspect that 'the government's influence was at work' in whatever ruling comes down." He urged the administration to "immediately halt this blatant intervention in the appointment of Supreme Court justices and respect the chief justice's constitutionally guaranteed power of nomination."
Choi Eun-seok, chief floor spokesperson, also said the chief justice's address was "a grave warning from the head of the judiciary to the Lee Jae-myung administration, which is shaking the judiciary and eroding the boundaries of the separation of powers." He added, "Stop scheming to erase trials and to extend terms in office."
