On the 15th, Democratic Party of Korea leader Jeong Cheong-rae directly criticized Chief Justice Cho Hee-dae as "the vanguard of anti–Lee Jae-myung political struggle" and urged him to resign. With Chu Mi-ae, a senior lawmaker in the party and chair of the National Assembly Legislation and Judiciary Committee, making remarks earlier, analysts said the ruling camp has effectively declared a head-on collision with the judiciary as the party leadership has now stepped forward.
At a Supreme Council meeting at the National Assembly that day, Jeong said, "The presidential election clearly showed that Chief Justice Cho Hee-dae emerged as the strongest adversary to candidate Lee Jae-myung," adding, "The judiciary must not be held hostage to the chief justice's political convictions."
He pressed, "The chief justice must take responsibility for the inexplicable suspicions over the judiciary's political neutrality," adding, "He should apologize and resign." He went on, "It is absolutely wrong to say the Democratic Party is pressuring Chief Justice Cho," adding, "Chief Justice Cho has already lost trust within the courts, and there is an internal assessment that he is too biased to perform the duties of chief justice. It was Chief Justice Cho himself who breached the judiciary's political neutrality."
Jeong also criticized the courtroom manner of Judge Ji Gu-yeon, who is handling former President Yoon Suk-yeol's insurrection case, and argued for the need to establish a panel dedicated to insurrection cases. He said, "A dedicated insurrection panel is the judiciary's comeuppance brought on by Chief Justice Cho's political bias and Judge Ji's time-wasting tactics," adding, "Is this a matter of legislation, or is it unconstitutional?"
He added, "The spirit of the times today is the eradication of insurrection," and "The Democratic Party will concentrate all party capabilities to fulfill its historical mission."
The remarks are expected to reverberate, as they formalize at the party leadership level the demand for Chief Justice Cho's resignation following Rep. Chu's call a day earlier for "Cho Hee-dae to step down."