Growing Controversy Over "Written Recommendation"... Why Did Agreement on Roh Tae-ak's Successor Fail?

[Anchor]

Controversy is growing as Supreme Court Chief Justice Cho Hee-dae submitted a written recommendation to President Lee Jae-myung for the appointment of two Supreme Court justice candidates. The ruling bloc is taking issue with this, pointing out that it broke the convention of reaching prior agreement with the president. The failure to reach an agreement is reportedly due to friction between the presidential office and the Supreme Court during the selection process for the successor of former Supreme Court Justice Roh Tae-ak.

Legal affairs specialist reporter Im Chanjong has more.

[Reporter]

Supreme Court Chief Justice Cho Hee-dae submitted a recommendation to President Lee Jae-myung yesterday (August 18) to appoint two new Supreme Court justices.

He recommended Daegu District Court Senior Judge Son Bong-ki as the successor to former Supreme Court Justice Roh Tae-ak, who retired last March, and Seoul High Court Senior Judge Kim Sung-soo as the successor to Supreme Court Justice Lee Heung-goo, who is scheduled to retire next month.

However, departing from the convention of meeting the president in person for the recommendation, Chief Justice Cho instead proceeded with a written recommendation.

[Cho Hee-dae / Supreme Court Chief Justice : (Is there a reason why you notified the presidential office of the Supreme Court justice successor in writing?) Good work.]

The written recommendation took place because President Lee and Chief Justice Cho failed to reach an agreement on the successor to former Supreme Court Justice Roh Tae-ak.

It is reported that President Lee's side wanted to recommend Senior Judge Kim Min-ki, who is classified as a progressive female judge, but Chief Justice Cho opposed it on the grounds that Senior Judge Kim's husband is Constitutional Court Justice Oh Young-joon, who was appointed by President Lee, raising the possibility of a conflict of interest.

As the differences in opinion failed to narrow, the vacancy for the Supreme Court justice position has lasted for over five months.

However, with another Supreme Court justice scheduled to retire next month and even claims arising that failing to recommend a successor constitutes grounds for impeachment, Chief Justice Cho appears to have recommended the two Supreme Court justice candidates simultaneously without reaching an agreement with the president's side.

While no official stance has been released by the presidential office, the ruling bloc reacted furiously, calling it a judicial coup. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court explained that discussions were held until the last moment, but prior consultation or agreement is not mandatory.

[Noh Kyung-phil / Minister of National Court Administration : If we must consult with the president (to exercise the power of recommendation), further to that, we would also have to consult with the National Assembly so as not to infringe upon (the National Assembly's) right to consent, and we believe that is inappropriate.]

While the majority interpretation in the legal community is that the president can refuse to proceed with the appointment process for a person recommended by the chief justice, the conflict between the ruling bloc and the chief justice is expected to reach its peak following this written recommendation controversy.

(Photo courtesy of Yonhap News)
(Video reporting: Bae Moon-san, Video editing: Park Ji-yeon)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.