Motion Passed to Adopt Chief Justice Cho Hee-dae as Audit Witness; Court Official Says He "Never Got Enraged"

[Anchor]

In the National Assembly, led by the Democratic Party, Supreme Court Chief Justice Cho Hee-dae was selected as a witness for the parliamentary audit starting next week. Regarding allegations that Chief Justice Cho became enraged and dismissed internal Supreme Court opinions favoring the acceptance of a request to renominate Supreme Court justice candidates, the Minister of the National Court Administration drew a line, stating they were not true.

Ha Jeong-yeon reports.

[Reporter]

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

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

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

[Kim Ki-pyo / Democratic Party Lawmaker: It is only right to ask, "Why did you refuse to renominate?"]

With People Power Party lawmakers walking out of the session, lawmakers aligned with the ruling bloc passed the motion to summon Chief Justice Cho as a witness, asserting that they must hear directly from him the reasons for rejecting the renomination of Supreme Court justice candidates.

Noh Kyung-pil, Minister of the National Court Administration, stated regarding Cheong Wa Dae's official document requesting renomination that "it is ambiguous to interpret whether it constitutes a return of the nomination or not."

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

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

[Park Gyun-taek / Democratic Party Lawmaker: Please explain it so people can understand.]

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

[Noh Kyung-pil / Minister of the National Court Administration: There are aspects that are difficult to discuss.]

Minister Noh drew a clear line against allegations raised by the ruling camp that "the National Court Administration suggested accepting the renomination, but Chief Justice Cho furiously dismissed it," stating:

[Noh Kyung-pil / Minister of the National Court Administration: Far from being enraged, he never got angry at all.]

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

On his way to work yesterday, Chief Justice Cho answered a question asking about his reasons for rejecting the 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 those details going forward through occasions like the parliamentary audit.]

The Supreme Court parliamentary audit is scheduled for October 6 next month. Having been adopted as an ordinary witness, Chief Justice Cho now faces legal liability for perjury under oath, as well as the burden of facing criminal complaints if he fails to appear.

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