Chung Jeom-sik: Ruling party's probe into Chief Justice Cho Hee-dae is “more vicious than impeachment”—a ploy to test the waters

[Financial News] On the 25th, People Power Party floor leader Chung Jeom-sik criticized the Democratic Party's push for a parliamentary investigation into Chief Justice Cho Hee-dae, saying, “It is more vicious than impeachment itself.”
Chung held a press briefing at the National Assembly that day and said, “Rather than dragging out the impeachment standoff over Chief Justice Cho through a parliamentary investigation, it would be better for the country to simply impeach him and have the Constitutional Court of Korea swiftly dismiss the motion.”
Chung said, “Leader Kim Min-seok said he would proceed step by step as originally planned, including a parliamentary investigation, and made clear his intention to pursue one.” He claimed, “Afraid of public backlash against impeachment, they intend to use a parliamentary investigation as a ploy to test the waters for impeachment.”
He continued, “It is obvious how the Democratic Party will conduct the parliamentary investigation,” adding, “Just as it called in prosecutors and shouted at them during last April’s so-called investigation into fabricated indictments, this time it will summon Supreme Court justices and judges as witnesses and try to berate them loudly.”
Chung said, “The Democratic Party’s purpose in pursuing this shoddy investigation is to exact retaliatory revenge against rulings the administration dislikes, such as the earlier ruling that quashed and remanded the case and confirmed President Lee Jae Myung’s guilt, and the recent acquittal of Mayor Oh Se-hoon in his second trial.” He called it “a move to pressure the judiciary to prevent trials involving the presidential couple and their close associates from resuming.”
He urged, “As the public watches this shoddy investigation, they will find grounds to impeach the president, not the chief justice. The judiciary, too, must not yield to the Democratic Party’s base intimidation; it should promptly conclude the stalled trials of Mrs. Kim Hye-kyung, Kim Yong, Jung Jin-sang and other close associates of the president, and resume President Lee’s five trials.”
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