Chief Justice Kim Myung-su's Attendance Canceled... Opposition Lawmakers All Walk Out of Judiciary Committee

[Asia Economy Reporter Oh Ju-yeon] Members of the People Power Party walked out of the National Assembly's Legislation and Judiciary Committee plenary session after the requirement for Chief Justice Kim Myung-soo to appear was not added to the agenda.

At the Legislation and Judiciary Committee plenary session held at the National Assembly on the 17th, a vote was held on whether to add the "Request for Chief Justice Appearance" to the agenda, but it was rejected as 12 out of 17 members present voted against it.

In response, opposition party members protested and left the meeting room en masse.

Kim Do-eup, the opposition party's secretary of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee and a member of the People Power Party, stood up and said to the opposition members, "Let's go to the Supreme Court," after the Q&A session with Choi Ki-sang of the Democratic Party of Korea and Cho Jae-yeon, the head of the Court Administration Office, ended.

Kim criticized, "What are we going to ask Kim Myung-soo, the Chief Justice, when we have the Deputy Chief of Court Administration sitting here? Why are we holding such a National Assembly?" and added, "We cannot participate in such a nominal and ineffective Legislation and Judiciary Committee plenary session."

He continued, "We will go to the Supreme Court now to condemn Chief Justice Kim Myung-soo's lies and verify the facts," and said, "Since he is not coming, we will go directly to urge his resignation and make him apologize to the people," before leaving with opposition members.

Baek Hye-ryun, the ruling party's secretary of the committee and a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, countered, "Bringing the Chief Justice issue to the Legislation and Judiciary Committee is clearly politically motivated," and added, "Today is the committee's business report."

Yoon Ho-jung, the chairperson of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee, said, "This is an off-site protest," and added, "I feel sorry thinking about how the public will view the off-site protest, whether they go to the Supreme Court to demonstrate or stage a sit-in."

He further stated, "There is no precedent of the Chief Justice attending a National Assembly standing committee, nor has the Chief Justice ever attended a Supreme Court administrative office business report," and criticized, "By that logic, the Speaker of the National Assembly should attend the Secretariat's business report if requested by members, and the President should appear at the Secretary's office business report if requested by members."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.