Cho Hee-dae Approved as Audit Witness... "Never Enraged"

[Anchor]

Led by the Democratic Party, the National Assembly has approved the selection of Chief Justice Cho Hee-dae as a witness for the parliamentary audit. Regarding allegations that Chief Justice Cho became enraged and dismissed internal Supreme Court opinions favoring acceptance of a request to renominate Supreme Court justice candidates, the Minister of National Court Administration stated that they are groundless.

Ha Jeongyeon reports.

[Reporter]

Yesterday (September 28) at the National Assembly's Legislation and Judiciary Committee.

The ruling and opposition parties clashed over whether to call Chief Justice Cho Hee-dae as a witness for the parliamentary audit.

[Rep. Park Hyung-soo / People Power Party: How can a country that intimidates the head of the judiciary to save President Lee Jae-myung be called a civilized nation?]

[Rep. Kim Ki-pyo / Democratic Party: It would be right to ask, "Why did you reject the renomination request?"]

With People Power Party lawmakers walking out, lawmakers aligned with the broader ruling bloc voted to approve his selection as a witness, saying they needed to hear directly from Chief Justice Cho regarding his reasons for rejecting the renomination of Supreme Court justice candidates.

Minister of National Court Administration Roh Kyung-phil stated regarding the presidential office's official document requesting renomination that "it is unclear whether it should be interpreted as a return of the nomination."

[Rep. Park Gyun-taek / Democratic Party: Isn't that expressing an intention not to appoint?]

[Roh Kyung-phil / Minister of National Court Administration: Whether the nomination was returned was not clear.]

[Rep. Park Gyun-taek / Democratic Party: No, please speak in a way that people can understand.]

[Rep. Kim Eui-kyeom / Democratic Party: I think 90% of our people will not understand well. Please explain it a bit more easily.]

[Roh Kyung-phil / Minister of National Court Administration: There are aspects that are difficult to speak about.]

Minister Roh drew the line regarding allegations raised by the ruling camp that the National Court Administration recommended accepting the renomination but Chief Justice Cho was enraged and brushed it aside, saying:

[Roh Kyung-phil / Minister of National Court Administration: Far from being enraged, he did not get angry at all.]

He explained that the National Court Administration reported four options—including refusing renomination, reconstituting the recommendation committee, or renominating from existing candidates—and Chief Justice Cho made the final decision.

On his way to work yesterday, Chief Justice Cho answered a question about his reasons for rejecting renomination:

[Cho Hee-dae / Chief Justice of the Supreme Court: I heard that you have many questions because I only provided the conclusion. I will convey such details through the parliamentary audit and other occasions in the future.]

The Supreme Court parliamentary audit is scheduled to take place on September 6, and as Chief Justice Cho was selected as an ordinary witness, he now bears the burden of criminal liability for perjury under oath, as well as the risk of facing complaints if he fails to appear.

Video by Oh Young-chun and Lee Seung-hwan | Video Editing by Yoon Tae-ho
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.