[Anchor]
Lawmakers aligned with the ruling coalition launched a fierce offensive against Chief Justice Cho Hee-dae. Amid sharp criticism asking whether he "dreams of becoming a second Yoon Suk Yeol," Chief Justice Cho fired back, calling the remark "insulting," and also refuted allegations regarding cooperation during martial law.
Reporter Kim Kwan-jin has the details.
[Reporter]
Chief Justice Cho Hee-dae attended the parliamentary audit of the Supreme Court yesterday (October 6) as head of the agency.
Unlike last year's audit, when he remained silent throughout following his opening remarks, he selectively responded to aggressive questions from ruling coalition lawmakers this time.
[Lee Seong-yoon / Democratic Party Lawmaker: Public trust in the judiciary plummeted from 38% to 19%. It plummeted under your watch.]
[Cho Hee-dae / Chief Justice: I heard an announcement that public trust in South Korea's judiciary has recently improved.]
The back-and-forth between ruling coalition lawmakers and Chief Justice Cho grew intensely sharp.
[Son Sol / Progressive Party Lawmaker: Chief Justice Cho Hee-dae, do you perhaps dream of becoming a second Yoon Suk Yeol?]
[Cho Hee-dae / Chief Justice: Saying such a thing is insulting and also sad.]
When ruling coalition lawmakers pressed him on why the Supreme Court remained silent regarding the illegal December 3 martial law and the riot at the Seoul Western District Court, Chief Justice Cho actively pushed back.
[Cho Hee-dae / Chief Justice: When the Martial Law Command asked to 'identify personnel'... I instructed that this was an utterly unconstitutional act, so no personnel should be sent and no list should be provided.]
[Kim Ki-pyo / Democratic Party Lawmaker: Why didn't the Chief Justice issue a statement during the Seoul Western District Court disturbance?]
[Cho Hee-dae / Chief Justice: At the time, the Minister of National Court Administration went directly to the scene and issued a stern statement.]
Regarding allegations that operational funds were improperly used for expensive meals and wine purchases, Chief Justice Cho explained that he had never even seen the corporate card. Meanwhile, conservative opposition lawmakers launched a counterattack by bringing up the allegations surrounding President Lee Jae-myung and his wife's use of Gyeonggi provincial corporate cards.
[Kim Min-jeon / People Power Party Lawmaker: At the very least, shouldn't the Democratic Party refrain from bringing up corporate cards?]
They also moved to shield Chief Justice Cho, arguing that the ruling bloc's attempts to undermine the judiciary were the greater problem.
[Joo Jin-woo / People Power Party Lawmaker: I believe the hardline 'Gaeddal' politics of the Democratic Party is destroying South Korea's Constitution and state system.]
At the National Assembly yesterday, ruling coalition and conservative opposition lawmakers engaged in a fierce battle from the very first day of the parliamentary audit, fueled by the escalating conflict between the president and the chief justice over the Supreme Court justice re-recommendation issue.
(Video by Oh Young-choon, Shin Dong-hwan, Kim Yong-woo | Video Editing by Lee Seung-jin)
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