The People Power Party pushed back sharply after the ruling Democratic Party of Korea formalized plans for a parliamentary investigation into allegations surrounding Supreme Court Chief Justice Jo Hee-de, vowing to "mobilize every available means to fight the malicious outrage of the ruling party."
Chung Jom-sig, the PPP's floor leader, made the remarks at the National Assembly on the 27th, calling the move "more despicable and malicious than impeachment."
"Did Chief Justice Jo acquit Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon? Did he exercise powers with no constitutional basis?" Chung asked, describing the plan as "blatant suppression of the judiciary and a clear violation of the separation of powers."
"The Democratic Party has already summoned the chief justice to the National Assembly several times to humiliate him, and during the parliamentary audit it broke with the practice of letting the chief justice leave after greetings, confining him to the hearing room," Chung said. "Not content with that, it is now insisting on a parliamentary investigation with no justification whatsoever."
Chung said the Democratic Party's push for the inquiry was aimed at retaliation over the president's trials and at burying them. "This is violent bullying politics that demonizes and torments a single chief justice to paper over the political crisis facing President Lee Jae-myung and Democratic Party leader Kim Min-seok," he said. "It is childish retaliation over the reversal and remand of the guilty verdict in the president's violation of the Public Official Election Act, and an attempt to block the resumption of trials involving the presidential couple and three close aides."
"This parliamentary investigation is unconstitutional and an attempt to enslave the judiciary," he said. "This very investigation is itself grounds for impeaching President Lee Jae-myung and the Democratic Party of Korea."
Turning to the judiciary, Chung said: "The reason the Democratic Party is wielding its blade in such a frenzy is that the courts halted five trials involving President Lee Jae-myung, as well as trials of his closest associates including first lady Kim Hye-kyung, Jung Jin-sang and Kim Yong." He added, "We urge the courts to resume the trials of the presidential couple and his closest aides to defend judicial independence and the Constitution."
The PPP plans to convene a general meeting of its lawmakers soon to discuss specific countermeasures. Because a request for a parliamentary investigation is not subject to a filibuster, the party must look to other options. Asked whether it was considering responses such as outdoor rallies or a boycott of parliamentary proceedings, Chung said, "Our party holds to the principle of pursuing every means available to us," adding that it would "decide after consulting with the leadership and lawmakers."
The Democratic Party earlier held a general meeting of its lawmakers and decided to report the request for a parliamentary investigation into Chief Justice Jo to a plenary session of the National Assembly on the 5th of next month, then draw up a detailed investigation plan.
The party's position is that establishing the facts through a parliamentary investigation should come before any push to impeach the chief justice. Jeon Eun-soo, the Democratic Party's floor spokesperson, responding to calls from parts of the pro-government bloc, including the Rebuilding Korea Party, for the swift impeachment of Jo, said, "We need to conduct a parliamentary investigation and establish what can be established." She added, "Filing an impeachment motion matters, but we cannot avoid considering what comes later, such as whether it would be upheld." The point was that even if impeachment is pursued, verifying the facts and securing grounds through a parliamentary investigation must come first, given the possibility that the Constitutional Court might not uphold it.