Call to Join 'Cho Hee-dae Impeachment Motion'... DP Says It Will "Gauge Public Opinion"

[Anchor]

The Rebuilding Korea Party has unveiled an impeachment motion against Supreme Court Chief Justice Cho Hee-dae and urged the Democratic Party to join in. While the Democratic Party maintains a stance of gauging public opinion, views within the party remain divided between pushing forward with impeachment and exercising caution.

Reporter Kim Kwan-jin reports.

[Reporter]

The "impeachment motion against Chief Justice Cho Hee-dae" unveiled today (October 19) by the Rebuilding Korea Party is a revised version of the party's proposal announced in October last year.

It cited grounds for impeaching Chief Justice Cho, stating that he violated the duty of political neutrality by remanding the Public Official Election Act case involving President Lee Jae-myung, and infringed upon the president's appointment power by refusing to re-recommend Supreme Court justices.

It also included allegations concerning encouragement funds and business operation expenses, as well as his refusal to take an oath as a witness during the parliamentary audit.

[Shin Jang-sik / Leader of the Rebuilding Korea Party: "Chief Justice Cho Hee-dae is merely a symbol of illegality and legal maneuvering. Unconstitutional, illegal, and unlawful political games must not be tolerated even by an inch."] 

The Rebuilding Korea Party urged the Democratic Party to join in introducing the impeachment motion, but the Democratic Party maintains a position for now that it will "gauge public opinion."

Leader Kim Min-seok asked at a closed-door Supreme Council meeting to gather opinions from within the party's parliamentary wing.

[Cho Gye-won / Democratic Party Spokesperson: "Please gather public opinion through our lawmakers."]

Former leader Jung Chung-rae, an advocate for pushing impeachment, called for the "impeachment of Cho Hee-dae" on social media, while some Supreme Council members aligned with him also voiced that impeachment should be actively pursued.

[Lee Seong-yoon / Democratic Party Supreme Council Member: "The public can no longer stand by and watch Chief Justice Cho Hee-dae."]

On the other hand, calls to moderate the pace and exercise caution are equally strong.

Lawmaker Park Beom-kye stated on social media that he hopes the party does not rush impeachment, arguing that impeachment proceedings should be discussed after conducting a parliamentary investigation into Chief Justice Cho, while Lawmaker Park Jie-won also added the following remarks, even while saying "there are overflowing reasons to impeach him."

[Park Jie-won / Democratic Party Lawmaker (SBS Radio 'Kim Tae-hyun's Political Show'): "He only has 7 to 8 months left in his term. Could the Constitutional Court really deliver a ruling in just 6 to 7 months?"]

The Democratic Party stated on October 16 that it would begin discussions on whether to pursue impeachment, and it is expected to narrow internal disagreements divided between proponents and cautious voices after the National Assembly's parliamentary audit concludes.

(Video by Oh Young-choon and Kim Yong-woo | Video Editing by Yoo Mi-ra | Graphics by Lee Ga-jin)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.