‘Impeachment of Cho Hee-dae’ increasingly in sight ... ruling party weighs its options as opposition says, ‘Make a decision’

[Financial News] As the pan-ruling bloc sets in motion efforts to impeach Chief Justice Cho Hee-dae, the National Assembly’s parliamentary audit, now past its halfway point, is also being dominated by the “Cho Hee-dae battle.” Kim Min-seok, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), is seen as testing the impeachment option as a way to turn around the party’s approval ratings and rally its core supporters. Yet, even without disclosing a plan to introduce an impeachment motion, Cho Kuk, head of the Institute for Innovation Policy Research, is pressing the party to “set an impeachment date.”
According to the ruling bloc on the 18th, the DPK is stepping up its efforts to impeach Chief Justice Cho. On the 16th, Kim said, “Since broad demands for impeachment are already being voiced, you can take it that we have begun discussing every option and possible path.” The party appears to believe it has caught the momentum as attention has grown around various controversies involving Chief Justice Cho during the parliamentary audit.
There is also analysis that the party is considering impeachment as a way to boost the DPK’s approval rating, which has recently begun to decline. Some analysts attribute the drop to core DPK members turning against the party leadership, and say that impeaching Chief Justice Cho is a means of rallying them.
However, it remains uncertain whether the effort will lead to the introduction of an impeachment motion and a vote. Public opposition to Chief Justice Cho, the head of the judiciary, has not yet spread to the entire public, and a hasty push could trigger a backlash. There are also predictions that impeachment would bring little benefit, given that eight months remain in Chief Justice Cho’s term, which runs through June next year.
As if aware of the DPK leadership’s complicated considerations over impeaching Chief Justice Cho, Cho Kuk pressed the party on the 18th via social media (SNS) to join the effort immediately. He said, “I hope Representative Kim will stop sending ambiguous messages such as ‘starting discussions’ or ‘making it official’ and clearly state even the date for a vote on the impeachment motion at a plenary session of the National Assembly.” The Rebuilding Korea Party (RKP) plans to unveil its impeachment motion against Chief Justice Cho on the 19th.
The People Power Party is warning that the government will collapse if the pan-ruling bloc pursues Chief Justice Cho’s impeachment. Floor Leader Chung Jeom-sik criticized Kim, saying, “Representative Kim has pulled out impeachment as a way to rally their support base again amid a crisis they themselves caused,” and, “Rather than overcoming the crisis through policy and competence, they intend to use impeachment—an emergency measure that halts the normal functioning of state institutions—to turn around their approval ratings.”
The opposition camp believes that if impeachment of Chief Justice Cho becomes a reality, divisions within the ruling bloc will deepen and the deterioration in public opinion will accelerate. Floor Leader Chung called for “a prompt decision on whether to pursue the impeachment of the chief justice,” and said that if the effort goes ahead, they will use every means to stop it.
[email protected] Lee Hae-ram Reporter