The Democratic Party of Korea decided to proceed with Chief Justice Cho Hui-dae's confirmation hearing on the 30th as scheduled. Despite projections that the process would be rocky after Cho notified the committee he would not attend, the party decided on the eve of the hearing to push ahead without changes. If Cho ultimately does not appear, the party said it will conduct the Supreme Court audit next month at a level equivalent to a hearing, including an on-site audit.
Park Su-hyeon, the Democratic Party's chief Spokesperson, told reporters on the 29th after a high-level strategy meeting and a closed-door Supreme Council meeting that "tomorrow's hearing will proceed as scheduled." He added, "Because the confirmation process will not proceed smoothly, we will express regret through statements on the proceedings." He continued, "We will conduct the Supreme Court audit at the level of a hearing."
The Democratic Party says that, if necessary, it could push for an on-site audit of the Supreme Court and demand that Chief Justice Cho appear for the audit. Spokesperson Park said, "Regarding the parts of the hearing that did not take place properly, we will use the audit period at the committee level, including an on-site audit." However, on whether to pursue impeachment of Chief Justice Cho if his absence continues, he drew a line, saying, "It is still premature."
The Democratic Party also decided to reapprove, in its original form, the amendment to the Act on Testimony and Appraisal Before the National Assembly (the Testimony and Appraisal Act), which designated the National Assembly speaker as the party to file a complaint. The bill allows the National Assembly to file a complaint, by a plenary vote, for perjury by witnesses and expert witnesses even after a committee's activities end. Complaints may also be filed with the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials and the police, and if an investigative agency cannot complete an investigation within the prescribed period (two months), it may extend it by up to two months.
The Democratic Party, on the eve of a planned plenary vote the previous day, introduced a revision to change the complainant from the "National Assembly speaker" to the "Legislation and Judiciary Committee chair." But opposition parties strongly objected, saying, "The Legislation and Judiciary Committee chair could arbitrarily control investigative agencies."
National Assembly Speaker Woo Won-sik also expressed the view that "if the National Assembly is the complainant, it is better for the speaker, the representative of the National Assembly, to do it," prompting the Democratic Party leadership to revert to the original text. Spokesperson Park explained, "Amending it to the Legislation and Judiciary Committee was out of consideration for the speaker, but since the speaker's office stated a principled position, we amended it again accordingly."
However, the policy to delete the retroactive application clause was maintained. The original bill included a basis to retroactively file complaints for perjury by senior officials in the Yoon Suk-yeol administration, such as former Prime Minister Han Duck-soo and Deputy Prime Minister for Economy Choi Sang-mok, targeting the special committee on the state investigation into insurrection allegations, which ended its activities in February this year, but that provision was deleted after controversy.
The Democratic Party also again urged that more than 70 non-contentious livelihood bills be handled at the Oct. 2 plenary session. Spokesperson Park said, "A number of bills that people are waiting for are included, such as the amendment to the Infant and Child Care Act and the bill to ban emergency room 'ping-pong,'" adding, "We have not yet reached an agreement between the ruling and opposition parties, but we are continually requesting it from the People Power Party."
In addition, the announcement and introduction of the judiciary reform plan, which had been slated for that day, was postponed until after Chuseok to focus on handling the National Information Resources Service fire incident.