Ruling and opposition parties split sharply on the 23rd after word emerged that President Lee Jae-myung had ordered a review of plans to form a special investigation unit on insurrection cases. Lawmakers in the ruling bloc largely avoided direct comment on the unit itself, instead framing Chief Justice Jo Hee-de's refusal of the Presidential Office's request to renominate Supreme Court justice candidates as an act of insurrection. The opposition countered that the administration was "racing toward its end."
Political observers said the order to review the unit was intended to soothe discontent among hardline supporters of the ruling bloc. Some supporters had criticized the pace and force of prosecution reform and other contested initiatives, asking whether the president lacked the will to root out insurrection. The review, in that reading, reaffirms a commitment to purging remnants of the insurrection.
Others read the move as aimed at Jo. After the chief justice on the previous day rejected the Presidential Office's request to renominate justice candidates, the office issued two separate statements rebutting his position, an unusual step. Jo responded with another statement on the 23rd, saying it was "hard to accept the reasoning that procedural flaws exist in the nomination process" of candidate Son Bong-gi. He also said the official letter requesting renomination "does not clearly state what the grounds are."
The Presidential Office issued a third notice in response. It called it "a grave procedural flaw to contact candidates individually and ask whether they would withdraw, in order to restart the recommendation process without any legal basis." It added that the letter should be read "from the standpoint of an ordinary citizen with sound common sense."
The Democratic Party went as far as raising the prospect of impeaching the chief justice. Party leader Kim Min-seok, speaking on the party's YouTube channel that day, described Jo's conduct as "an insurrection for the ages." "There is no precedent for a chief justice ignoring the constitution and the law like this and playing at a power struggle with the president," Kim said, calling it "the erratic behavior of the last holdout of an insurrection force that has already been put down." Rep. Park Jie-won of the National Assembly's Legislation and Judiciary Committee said, "Removal from office is the goal, but at the very least his duties should be suspended immediately." Rep. Song Young-gil of the Democratic Party also said, "If the president declines an appointment, the remaining candidates must be renominated. Anyone can see that refusing to renominate is an abuse of authority."
The Presidential Office, however, said the president's order to review the special investigation unit came before Jo refused to renominate the justice candidates and was not directly related.
The People Power Party pushed back, asking "how long will they keep harping on this worn-out insurrection line?" Party leader Jang Dong-hyuk said the move was "a last thrashing to stop the resumption of the president's trial," adding, "If he does not understand what the public wants right now, his base will not come back no matter what he does."
