Lawmakers of the Democratic Party of Korea on the National Assembly Legislation and Judiciary Committee said they are reviewing whether the committee will push for a third round of a National Assembly audit of the Supreme Court. They also again urged the submission of materials related to paper records in the retrial on remand of President Lee Jae-myung's Public Official Election Act violation case.
The Democratic Party and Legislation and Judiciary Committee members from the Rebuilding Korea Party and independents held a press briefing at the National Assembly on the morning of the 22nd and presented issues including access to Supreme Court records and transparency of trial procedures related to the remand trial under the Public Official Election Act of President Lee Jae-myung, as well as plans for the committee's future audits.
Kim Yong-min, the ruling party's secretary on the committee, when asked about "whether to conduct a third audit of the Supreme Court," said, "After conducting two audits of the Supreme Court, whether we will hold a third is still under internal discussion," adding, "If a third audit (is conducted), we have not yet decided whether it should be an on-site audit." Seo Young-kyo of the same party, who attended alongside, added, "The Supreme Court needs to answer properly. It also needs to submit materials properly."
Supreme Council member Jeon Hyun-hee again urged an answer on whether the Supreme Court allowed record access related to the president's case. Jeon said, "Since the 10th, electronic records have been legalized, so the trials concerning then-candidate Lee Jae-myung before that must be judgments based on paper records," adding, "The question is whether all 12 Supreme Court justices read the paper records, but the Supreme Court is not answering on this point."
Jeon said, "There are more than 70,000 pages of paper records, so if 12 justices read them, that comes to 900,000 pages, and copying takes nearly 20 days. When we asked whether they copied all the paper records, they could not answer. We also asked them to submit the copy log records, but they are not answering," adding, "They claim to have read the electronic records, but it appears they did not even read the electronic records, and even if they did, it is self-evident that they cannot render a judgment based on unlawful records."
Jeon continued, "If they read the paper records, they need to produce the copier log records. The Supreme Court is currently not answering, but please answer before the National Assembly audit."
Park Eun-jung of the Rebuilding Korea Party also said, "Within the remaining audit period, they must answer whether they properly reviewed the records (related to the president's trial) and whether they properly examined the evidence," adding, "If the Supreme Court does not properly answer the public's suspicions, it must be held accountable."
The Supreme Court has so far taken a cautious stance on requests to submit materials regarding administrative matters related to the president's trial. The lack of a clear decision on whether to conduct a third audit of the Supreme Court is seen as an attempt to pressure the court to submit related materials. Earlier, chief spokesperson Park Soo-hyun told reporters after the Supreme Council meeting that day, "I heard the Legislation and Judiciary Committee discussed proceeding with a third audit but withdrew the plan. My understanding is that the committee decided on its own, not at the direction of the party leadership."
The briefing also continued attacks on the opposition party. Lee Sung-yoon of the Democratic Party said, "The People Power Party has engaged in obstruction during the audit to prevent pro-martial-law acts from being exposed and to block the substantiation of allegations related to Yoon Suk-yeol and Kim Keon-hee," adding, "We will pursue National Assembly-level discipline as well as legal responsibility for the violence and obstruction by lawmakers who turn the audit into a mess."
On the remaining audit schedule of the committee, they emphasized that they will review the direction of prosecution and judicial reform and follow-up tasks.
Park Eun-jung said, "In the upcoming audits, we will make them audits that inform the public of the direction of complete prosecution reform and judicial reform, and the committee will ask the audited agencies to properly carry out the follow-up tasks of prosecution and judicial reform."