[Anchor]

Regarding the written nomination of Supreme Court Justices, the Democratic Party has designated Supreme Court Chief Justice Cho Hee-dae as a National Assembly witness and even revived a bill to abolish the National Court Administration. In response, the People Power Party fired back, calling it an attempt to seize control of the judiciary and arguing that the people who should actually be seated in the witness box are the President and the Senior Secretary to the President for Civil Affairs.

Reporter Ha Jeongyeon has the story.

[Reporter]

Pan-ruling camp lawmakers on the Legislation and Judiciary Committee of the National Assembly held a press conference yesterday morning, arguing that accepting Supreme Court Chief Justice Cho Hee-dae's nomination of a Supreme Court justice candidate—which bypassed normal consultations and procedures—would set a dangerous precedent. They urged the presidential office to reject Chief Justice Cho's nomination of Supreme Court justice candidate Son Bong-gi.

[Kim Yong-min / Democratic Party Lawmaker: The presidential office must review all measures permitted by the Constitution and laws to protect the President's legitimate appointment power.]

During the plenary meeting of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee, the Democratic Party ramped up pressure on the judiciary, pointing out that there are more than 20 complaints filed against Chief Justice Cho—including those related to this controversy—and urging the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials to conduct an investigation.

[Seo Young-kyo / Chairperson of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee (Democratic Party Lawmaker): Complaints have been filed with the Corruption Investigation Office, haven't they? As far as I understand, there are about 23 complaints related to Supreme Court Chief Justice Cho Hee-dae. Why aren't you indicting? Can you drag things out for that long?]

Democratic lawmakers also adopted Chief Justice Cho and National Court Administration Director Noh Kyung-pil as witnesses to question them on pending issues at the National Assembly on the 31st. In protest, People Power Party lawmakers staged a mass walkout from the meeting, calling the move an "attempt to control the judiciary," and held a counter-press conference declaring that "the ones who should be seated in the witness box are the President and the Senior Secretary for Civil Affairs."

[Park Hyung-su / People Power Party Lawmaker: Summoning the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court to the National Assembly to interrogate the background of the nomination amounts to the National Assembly conducting a post-hoc interrogation of the nomination power entrusted to the Chief Justice by the Constitution.]

Within the Democratic Party, claims emerged that the National Court Administration, which oversees court administrative affairs, has acted as a shock troop for Chief Justice Cho, prompting calls to accelerate the processing of the currently pending bill to abolish the National Court Administration. The clash between the ruling and opposition parties over the written nomination crisis is poised to escalate into a broader controversy over judicial reform.

(Camera Cooperation: Oh Young-chun, Kim Yong-woo | Video Editing: Jeon Min-gyu)