Ruling party zeroes in on Cho Hee-dae over “backing martial law,” presses ahead despite fears probe could backfire

[Financial News] The Democratic Party is pushing for a parliamentary investigation into Supreme Court Chief Justice Cho Hee-dae and plans to closely examine his actions during the 2024 South Korean martial law crisis. The People Power Party is strongly protesting, calling it an attempt to “bring the judiciary to heel.” As concerns about the probe’s effectiveness and a public backlash are voiced even within the ruling party, whether new evidence can be secured is expected to be key to future impeachment discussions.
According to political sources on the 1st, Democrats plan to present a request for a parliamentary investigation into Chief Justice Cho at a plenary session of the National Assembly on the 5th and adopt an investigation plan as early as next week.
The five subjects of the investigation proposed by Democrats are the reversal and remand in President Lee Jae Myung’s Public Official Election Act case, the Supreme Court’s response during martial law, the controversy over the re-nomination of a Supreme Court justice, alleged spending of business promotion expenses and cash incentive payments, and alleged delays in First Lady Kim Keon Hee’s trial. They plan to focus on determining whether Chief Justice Cho fulfilled his duty to protect the constitutional order during martial law.
A key Democratic Party official said, “There is significance in saying that Cho Hee-dae’s disruption of the constitutional order began then,” adding, “The investigation will let the public know that Chief Justice Cho is unfit to serve as chief justice.”
The People Power Party criticized the investigation as effectively a preliminary step toward impeachment. Kim Tae-gyu, the party’s senior deputy floor spokesperson, said that day, “They fear a backlash if they move straight to impeachment, but if they back down, they worry about what their hard-line supporters will think. Their real aim is to set up a parliamentary investigation as a stage and test the waters for impeachment.”
Lawmaker Yoon Sang-hyun also said, “A parliamentary investigation is a means of keeping power in check, not a tool for making the head of the judiciary submit because the majority party dislikes him.”
Calls for caution are also being heard within the ruling party. Lawmaker Kim Young-jin questioned whether Chief Justice Cho would appear, while lawmaker Jung Sung-ho said parliamentary investigations had “mostly started with a bang and ended in a whimper.” Another complicating factor is that the Special Prosecutor Cho Eun-seok team and Kwon Chang-young’s second comprehensive special counsel team respectively declined to indict and rejected the complaint accusing Chief Justice Cho of performing an important role in an insurrection.
Public opinion is not entirely favorable to Democrats either. In the National Barometer Survey (NBS) released on the 29th of last month, 45% opposed impeaching Chief Justice Cho, 11 percentage points higher than the 34% who supported it. A Gallup Korea poll likewise found that 39% opposed impeachment and 34% supported it.

[email protected] Kim Kyung-min Reporter