Heated Clash with Ruling Bloc: Chief Justice Calls 'Second Yoon Suk Yeol' Jibe 'Insulting'

[Anchor]

Defying expectations, Supreme Court Chief Justice Cho Hee-dae actively answered questions during the parliamentary audit by the National Assembly's Legislation and Judiciary Committee. Facing accusations asking whether he dreams of becoming a "second Yoon Suk Yeol," he pushed back, calling the remarks "insulting and sad."

Reporter Kim Kwan-jin has the story.

[Reporter]

Chief Justice Cho Hee-dae appeared as head of the institution at the parliamentary audit of the Supreme Court yesterday (October 6).

Unlike last year's audit, where he remained silent throughout after his opening remarks, this time he selectively answered aggressive questions from ruling bloc lawmakers.

[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 of the Supreme Court: I heard announcements stating that public trust in South Korea's judiciary has improved recently.]

The exchanges between the ruling bloc lawmakers and Chief Justice Cho grew intensely sharp.

[Son Sol / Progressive Party Lawmaker: Chief Justice Cho Hee-dae, are you dreaming of becoming a second Yoon Suk Yeol?]

[Cho Hee-dae / Chief Justice of the Supreme Court: Such words are insulting and also sad.]

When ruling bloc lawmakers demanded to know why the Supreme Court remained silent regarding the illegal December 3 martial law and the Seoul Western District Court riot, Chief Justice Cho actively pushed back.

[Cho Hee-dae / Chief Justice of the Supreme Court: When the Martial Law Command asked to "identify personnel," I gave strict orders not to send anyone or hand over a list because it was entirely unconstitutional.]

[Kim Ki-pyo / Democratic Party Lawmaker: Why did the Chief Justice not state a position during the disturbance at the Western District Court?]

[Cho Hee-dae / Chief Justice of the Supreme Court: At that time, the head of the National Court Administration went to the scene in person and issued a stern statement.]

Regarding allegations of improper spending from institutional operating expenses—such as expensive dining and wine purchases—Chief Justice Cho explained that he had never even seen the card. Meanwhile, conservative opposition lawmakers launched a counterattack by bringing up allegations regarding the use of Gyeonggi Province corporate cards by President Lee Jae-myung and his wife.

[Kim Min-jeon / People Power Party Lawmaker: At the very least, shouldn't the Democratic Party refrain from bringing up corporate cards?]

They also came to Chief Justice Cho's defense, arguing that the ruling camp's undermining of the judiciary posed a greater problem.

[Joo Jin-woo / People Power Party Lawmaker: I believe that the Democratic Party's hardline "Gaettal" politics is destroying the Constitution and state system of the Republic of Korea.]

At the National Assembly yesterday, lawmakers from the ruling bloc and the conservative opposition engaged in fierce clashes from the first day of the parliamentary audit, driven by the escalating conflict between the president and the chief justice over the resubmission of Supreme Court justice nominations.

(Video by Oh Young-choon, Shin Dong-hwan, Kim Yong-woo | Video Editing by Lee Seung-jin)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.