Chief Justice Rejects Request to Re-nominate Supreme Court Justice, Citing Lack of Constitutional Basis

[Anchor]

Chief Justice Cho Hee-dae has officially announced his refusal to comply with President Lee Jae-myung's request to re-nominate a Supreme Court justice. He explained that he could find "no constitutional basis or grounds" to justify a request for re-nomination. The conflict between the president and the chief justice regarding the nomination of Supreme Court justices is expected to be prolonged.

This report is by legal specialist reporter Im Chanjong.

[Reporter]

Chief Justice Cho Hee-dae released a statement yesterday morning declining President Lee Jae-myung's request to re-nominate a Supreme Court justice.

This comes 25 days after the president requested the re-nomination.

Chief Justice Cho pointed out that under the constitution, official presidential acts must be executed through documents countersigned by the prime minister and relevant members of the State Council, and that the document requesting the re-nomination lacked specific reasons and constitutional grounds for the request.

He also stated, "Since no other specific constitutional basis or grounds can be found to justify the re-nomination request, I cannot comply with it."

[Cho Hee-dae / Chief Justice (leaving work yesterday): (Could you say a word?) …….]

Chief Justice Cho Hee-dae has been in conflict with the presidential office, which demanded the nomination of Senior Judge Kim Mingi as the successor to former Supreme Court Justice Roh Tae-ak, who retired in March.

In the meantime, the retirement date for former Supreme Court Justice Lee Heung-goo approached, and on August 18, Chief Justice Cho nominated Senior Judge Sohn Bong-ki as the successor to former Justice Roh and Senior Judge Kim Sung-soo as the successor to former Justice Lee, respectively.

In response, President Lee's side proceeded with the appointment procedure for Senior Judge Kim, on whom a prior agreement had been reached, but refused to appoint Senior Judge Sohn, on whom no prior agreement was reached, arguing that the nomination lacked sufficient procedural integrity, and requested a new nomination for that position.

However, with Chief Justice Cho Hee-dae's statement yesterday that he could not comply with the re-nomination request, the ball has effectively been passed back to the president's side.

Nevertheless, because it is virtually unlikely that President Lee Jae-myung will resume appointment procedures for Senior Judge Sohn Bong-ki—whom Chief Justice Cho previously nominated—and because a Supreme Court justice cannot be appointed without the chief justice's nomination, projections are emerging that the vacancy of the Supreme Court justice seat could persist until Chief Justice Cho Hee-dae's retirement scheduled for June of next year.

(Video filming: Kim Hangyul, Video editing: Park Sun-su)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.