Cho Kuk, head of the Rebuilding Korea Party's Innovation Policy Institute, urged the Democratic Party of Korea to move immediately on an impeachment motion against Supreme Court Chief Justice Jo Hee-de. Citing the possibility that former first lady Kim Keon-hee could be released when her detention period expires, he pressed the party to stop debating impeachment and fix a date for a vote in the National Assembly's plenary session.
In a Facebook post on the 18th titled "How long will the Democratic Party be led around by Chief Justice Jo Hee-de's hand?" Cho said the party "must immediately join the impeachment of Jo Hee-de that I and the Rebuilding Korea Party have persistently called for."
Taking aim at Democratic Party leader Kim Min-seok in particular, Cho said: "I hope they stop sending vague messages such as 'beginning discussions' or 'making it official' and clearly present the date for a plenary vote on the impeachment motion." He added that "the governing Democratic Party must now stop its 'banner politics' and 'task force politics' and take action."
Cho pointed to the imminent expiry of Kim's detention period as the urgent reason for pursuing impeachment. Recalling that he had described as unusual the referral of Kim's case to the Supreme Court's full bench on July 23, he said "that warning is now becoming reality."
"The detention period in Kim Keon-hee's so-called 'three major allegations' case ends this month," he said, noting that "the Supreme Court's full bench has set October 22 as a second hearing date rather than a sentencing date." He also noted that the special counsel asked the appellate bench handling a separate case on the 15th to issue a detention warrant on its own authority, but that bench has yet to respond.
"If no sentencing date is set after the October 22 hearing and no additional warrant is issued, Kim Keon-hee, one pillar of the 'Yoon Suk-yeol-Kim Keon-hee joint regime,' will walk out," Cho said. "If Kim Keon-hee is released, the public anger that follows will be directed not only at Chief Justice Jo Hee-de but also at a powerless Democratic Party."
He also leveled harsh criticism at the chief justice. Citing the Supreme Court's ruling during the last presidential election that quashed and remanded the election law case against then-candidate Lee Jae-myung on grounds pointing to a conviction, as well as issues surrounding nominations for Supreme Court justices, Cho said "Chief Justice Jo Hee-de's brinkmanship to pressure the Lee Jae-myung administration and the National Assembly continues."
Pointing in particular to the delay in ruling on a motion filed by former Deputy Prime Minister for Economy Choi Sang-mok seeking the recusal of presiding judge Lee Jin-kwan, Cho said: "If things go on like this, we may see, one after another, Kim Keon-hee's release, the granting of the recusal motion against presiding judge Lee Jin-kwan, and the overturning of rulings handed down by him."
He also criticized the Democratic Party's reluctance to pursue impeachment. Noting that the Rebuilding Korea Party unveiled an impeachment motion against the chief justice on October 17 last year, Cho said "about a year has passed since the motion was made public, but nothing at all has changed about Jo Hee-de." He went on to say that "the problem is the governing Democratic Party," which "has wasted a year without reaching a decision and is absorbed only in internal fighting."
He also drew a line under concerns within the party about an impeachment backlash. "I hear there are many lawmakers inside the Democratic Party worried about a 'backlash,'" Cho said, noting that "there were many lawmakers who fretted that a backlash would come when judicial reforms were being pursued, including increasing the number of Supreme Court justices, introducing constitutional appeals against court rulings, and creating an offense of distorting the law." He stressed that "reform should be carried out steadily as reform, and livelihood issues pursued steadily as livelihood issues."
Turning to the People Power Party, he said it is "brazenly daring us to impeach if we can," adding that "the more we submit to their threats or watch for their reaction, the deeper the quagmire for rooting out insurrection and for judicial justice."
Cho stressed that whether the impeachment motion is upheld by the Constitutional Court is a separate matter. "Whether there was a grave legal violation can be left to the Constitutional Court," he said. "Putting the brakes on Jo Hee-de's conduct is the authority and the duty of the National Assembly."