The Democratic Party of Korea demanded the immediate resignation of Supreme Court Chief Justice Jo Hee-de, alleging he gave false answers during a parliamentary audit of government agencies. The party also accused the People Power Party of turning foreign policy and security issues into political fodder, urging it to focus the audit on livelihood matters.
"Chief Justice Jo Hee-de's lies have been exposed once again," Chun Jun-ho, the party's senior deputy floor leader, said at an audit strategy meeting at the National Assembly on the 13th. "At the audit on the 6th, the chief justice said there was a separate disbursement officer and that he had no involvement whatsoever in the payment of bonuses." He added: "But on the 12th, the Board of Audit and Inspection said it had confirmed that the chief justice paid bonuses to Supreme Court justices and the head of the National Court Administration," questioning the truthfulness of the testimony.
Chun also criticized Jo for refusing to take the witness oath at the audit. "Judicial independence is not a shield for evading public scrutiny," he said. "If you are going to tell the public to obey the law, you must first tell the truth and take responsibility." He argued that "a chief justice who has lost the public's trust is not qualified to lead the judiciary," and called on Jo to "stop damaging confidence in the judiciary any further and resign immediately."
Kwon Chil-seung, chair of the party's policy committee, sharply criticized the People Power Party's offensive on foreign policy and security. At the same meeting, Kwon described North Korea's ballistic missile launch as a violation of United Nations Security Council resolutions and strongly condemned it, while also urging that "the People Power Party immediately stop its irresponsible politicization of foreign policy and security issues."
Kwon pointed in particular to allegations raised at last week's audit by the National Assembly's Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee that the government had induced North Korean defectors to return to the North. The claims amount to "nothing more than an old-style political attack aimed at stoking security anxiety and undermining trust in the government, rather than genuine concern for national security," he said.
The Democratic Party also plans to focus the audit on workers' health rights at industrial sites. Kwon raised allegations that DN Automotive's plant in Ulsan administered chelation injections to workers before health examinations to conceal their exposure to lead, telling them the shots were vitamin injections. "If these allegations prove true, it means the workplace used tricks to evade the law and covered up the deterioration of workers' health," Kwon said, calling for "a thorough investigation by the Ministry of Employment and Labor and the police."