As the so-called "three judicial laws," including the crime of legal distortion, were promulgated on the 12th, Supreme Court Chief Justice Jo Hee-de, who sent President Lee Jae-myung's Public Official Election Act violation case back for retrial, was reported to police.
According to legal sources, attorney Lee Byung-chul of law firm IA filed a complaint with police on the 2nd seeking punishment of Chief Justice Jo and former National Court Administration chief (Supreme Court justice) Park Young-jae under Article 123-2 of the Criminal Act (crime of legal distortion). He was said to have preemptively filed the complaint in advance to prompt an immediate investigation upon the law's implementation.
Through the complaint, the attorney was reported to have said, "A judge involved in a criminal trial, knowing the principle of written proceedings, intentionally did not apply it with the purpose of harming another person's rights and interests," and noted that "a serious crime punishable by up to 10 years in prison was committed."
The point is that it is physically impossible for Chief Justice Jo and others to review, in writing, the more than 70,000 pages of case records in nine days.
The Supreme Court en banc, in May last year, one month before the 21st presidential election, sent President Lee's Public Official Election Act violation case back for retrial with a guilty purport. The Democratic Party of Korea pushed back, calling it an "ultra-fast hearing," which became the spark for promoting the three judicial laws.
On the way to work that day, Chief Justice Jo did not give any particular answer to reporters who asked how he would respond to the three judicial laws.