The Democratic Party of Korea on the 23rd launched a broadside against the judiciary over an appeals court ruling that acquitted Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon of violating the Political Funds Act, asking whether "this court, which has now cleared Oh Se-hoon after Yoon Suk-yeol, is an acquittal vending machine."
Park Sung-joon, the party's chief spokesperson, said at a briefing at the National Assembly press center that the party expressed "strong regret toward the judiciary over a ruling that defies common sense," adding that "the appeals court shielded as legitimate the very money the trial court had recognized as illegal political funds."
Park went on to say that "an acquittal for Yoon Suk-yeol, an acquittal for Oh Se-hoon — the power figures who benefited from Myung Tae-kyun's opinion polls have won acquittals one after another whenever they stood before this court." The spokesperson argued the outcome amounted to "the judiciary opening the door to a politics in which polls are bought with money and brokers manipulate elections."
Park made clear the party would use the ruling as grounds for pushing judicial reform. "Today's ruling will be the fuse for judicial reform," he said. "The public will no longer tolerate courts that turn away from justice. We will see judicial reform through without wavering, together with the people."
The criticism continued when Park met reporters immediately after the briefing. He said it was clear on every count — who, what, when, where, how and why — that the money constituted an improper transaction aimed at securing Oh's election and amounted to illegal political funds. "It is hard to trust a court that judged such money to be legitimate," he said.
He added that "when you look at this acquittal for Mayor Oh coming after the Yoon Suk-yeol opinion poll case, one cannot help but reasonably suspect that the court had some intent."
On the question of Chief Justice Jo Hee-de's position, Park called for a voluntary resignation but took a cautious stance on pursuing impeachment. "There appears to have been no one like Chief Justice Jo Hee-de in the history of Korea's Supreme Court, so it is only right that he step down voluntarily," he said. Asked whether the party would pursue impeachment, he said there were "many legal issues involved, and explaining the matter in detail to the public comes first," adding that he would speak on it once a decision had been made.