Minor opposition Rebuilding Korea Party on Monday unveiled a draft of a motion to impeach Supreme Court Chief Justice Jo Hee-de, while the while the Democratic Party has begun to gather opinions on Jo's impeachment.
The Rebuilding Korea Party urged the ruling Democratic Party of Korea to join forces to propose the motion to end what it called a "judiciary coup" against President Lee Jae Myung.
In the draft, Rebuilding Korea Party claimed that Jo failed to maintain political impartiality when the Supreme Court effectively ruled against Lee in 2025 in a case concerning claims made by Lee regarding alleged irregularities in land development projects in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province.
The motion also alleges that Jo breached the right to a public trial by refusing to accept the presidential office's request to change his recommendation for a new Supreme Court justice.
The bill also cites alleged misuse of public funds by the Supreme Court.
"The Chief Justice is a symbol of the rule of law, so the law should hold him to stricter standards," the party chair Rep. Shin Chang-sik said at its supreme council meeting held at the National Assembly's front yard.
"Yet, Chief Justice Jo has become nothing more than a symbol of ... a manipulation of legal techniques. ... To uphold the rule of law, we must no longer tolerate the unconstitutional, unlawful, evasive and politically motivated actions of Chief Justice Jo."
Shin said the National Assembly must now put an end to this "judicial coup," in the same way it ended former President Yoon Suk Yeol's presidency following his martial law invocation in December 2024.
Shin rejected speculation that its push to impeach Jo could lead to backlash from moderates, claiming that the public supports the move.
"The only ones talking about a backlash are the remnants of the insurrection, or the People Power Party and the forces seeking a return of the Yoon era," Shin said.
It was the second time that a motion to impeach Jo was drafted by the minor party, but no motion has been floated. An impeachment motion requires the backing from at least a third of the 300-member parliament, but the Rebuilding Korea Party occupies 12 seats.
In response to the minor liberal party's call, the Democratic Party is in a wait-and-see mode, by pressuring Jo to resign instead of using its legislative power to remove him from office.
The ruling party spokesperson Rep. Cho Gye-won told reporters Monday that the party was "gathering opinions" among its lawmakers.
"Rather than focusing on the impeachment debate itself, the Democratic Party intends to highlight illegal actions by Chief Justice Jo, and demonstrate his disregard for both the legislative and executive branches, in order to prove that he is ultimately unfit to serve as the head of the judicial power," Cho said.
This follows the party chair Rep. Kim Min-seok's remarks in the party's own media platform that the party has "started to discuss all available options and paths as (the party) was seeing diverse demands for (Jo's) impeachment," and that the party was internally "making the cases for the reason why (Jo's) resignation has become inevitable."
Other Democratic Party lawmakers, such as Reps. Kim Gi-pyo, Park Kyoon-taek and Lee Yong-woo, have claimed that there are many reasons to impeach Jo.
Should Jo's impeachment motion pass the National Assembly, Jo will be immediately suspended from his role as the chief of the judicial branch until the Constitutional Court hands down a verdict over the impeachment.
A motion to impeach the Supreme Court Chief Justice requires a majority vote in the National Assembly, with more than half of lawmakers present.
The People Power Party claims that the liberals' targeting of Jo was meant to bring the judicial branch under its control.
"Impeaching an innocent Chief Justice and paralyzing the Supreme Court would, in fact, constitute a parliamentary coup," the party chair Rep. Jang Dong-hyeok said in the supreme council meeting Monday.
consnow@heraldcorp.com