On First Day of New Law Distortion Offense, Chief Justice Cho Hee-dae Is Reported to Police; Yongin Seobu Police Station Leads Probe

[Financial News] On the first day of enforcement of the three judicial reform bills, which center on introducing the newly created offense of law distortion, a retrial petition system, and increasing the number of Supreme Court Justices, Chief Justice Cho Hee-dae was reported to police on suspicion of law distortion. The police plan to verify the facts based on the allegations raised in the complaint.
The National Office of Investigation announced on the 12th that it had assigned a complaint, filed through the government’s e-People online petition system on the 2nd, accusing Chief Justice Cho Hee-dae of the law distortion offense, to Yongin Seobu Police Station.
For now, the police have assigned the case to the station with jurisdiction over the complainant’s address. However, they may reassign it after reviewing the matter in more detail.
A police official said, "Since a petition related to the law distortion offense was filed through e-People, we must review the complaint and verify the facts," adding, "At this stage, we do not even know whether this will become the first officially recognized case under the law distortion offense."
Earlier the same day, Lee Byung-cheol, an attorney at IA Law Firm, stated that he had filed a complaint with the National Office of Investigation accusing Chief Justice Cho and former Minister of the National Court Administration Park Young-jae, a Supreme Court Justice, of the law distortion offense. He argued that when Chief Justice Cho, in May last year, remanded the case of President Lee Jae-myung of South Korea—who was charged with violating the Public Official Election Act—back to a lower court with instructions to convict, he intentionally distorted the Criminal Procedure Act of the Republic of Korea.
welcome@fnnews.com Jang Yoo-ha Reporter