Jung Chung-rae, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, issued a public warning to Chief Justice Cho Hee-dae, who is scheduled to appear before the Legislation and Judiciary Committee on the first day of the National Assembly's audit on the 13th, saying, "You must be faithful and diligent in the audit." Jung stressed, "I hope you keep in mind that this is the last chance for the Supreme Court to carve out its own path for judicial reform."
That morning at the party's Supreme Council meeting held at the National Assembly, Jung said, "In ordinary times, the chief justice would seek the National Assembly's understanding and leave the audit room, but you yourself will know well that circumstances do not allow that now."
Supreme Council member Jeon Hyun-hee also warned, "Chief Justice Cho must now stop playing hide-and-seek and give a full explanation to the public about the alleged presidential election interference," adding, "If he remains silent again on this public suspicion, the National Assembly will hold him appropriately accountable in accordance with the sovereign's will."
The Democratic Party plans to define this audit as "an audit focused on settling sedition and people's livelihoods" and step up its offensive over the Yoon Suk-yeol administration's martial-law affair. Jung said, "We will minimize the adoption of witnesses from among businesspeople and do our utmost to make this an audit that focuses on complete settlement of sedition and on people's livelihood issues."
He criticized the People Power Party for setting its audit theme as "blocking dictatorship, protecting my life," calling it "deplorable and a historically regressive rampage." He added, "I hope you will see this audit as an opportunity to join forces for the settlement of sedition, and I urge the People Power Party to change its audit theme."
Meanwhile, the Democratic Party emphasized the need to establish a response system to prevent a recurrence after a series of crimes targeting overseas Koreans in recent days. Jung said, "As President Lee Jae-myung has also ordered an all-out response, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs must prepare concrete and effective measures, such as expanding oversight of overseas employment, strengthening preemptive alerts by crime type, and building a cooperation system with local police for swift relief of victims."
He said, "Through this audit, the Democratic Party will closely inspect the overall system for protecting overseas nationals and move to improve laws and institutions, including revising the consular assistance law." Supreme Council member Jeon Hyun-hee also said, "The Democratic Party will consider establishing a special committee on countermeasures against overseas employment scams to review the overall situation and seek institutional improvements."