South Korea's largest opposition party calls for impeachment of Supreme Court chief justice - hardline stance in protest against ruling by front-runner in presidential election

On the 1st of this month, the Supreme Court overturned the acquittal of Lee Jae-myung, the former head of the Democratic Party of Korea, for violating the Public Offices Election Act, and sent the case back to the High Court for further review.
In response to this, there are calls within the party for the impeachment of Supreme Court Chief Justice Cho Hee-dae. Lee is the party's official candidate for the presidential election to be held on June 3, and currently, opinion polls show that he is rated as the most suitable candidate to be the next president.
He is the most popular candidate and is leading the approval ratings. The party criticized the Supreme Court, saying, "Why did the Supreme Court make the ruling just before the presidential election?" A member of the party's National Assembly said, "The Democratic Party is going all out. We will use all our power to our advantage."
On the other hand, there are also voices urging the party to exercise restraint due to concerns about possible backlash. At the extraordinary general meeting of party lawmakers held on the 4th, the decision on whether to proceed with impeachment of Cho was left undecided.
The party decided to put the matter on hold and ask the court to change the date of the retrial, which is scheduled for the 15th. Roh Jeong-myeong, spokesman for the party's election committee, responded to this request.
The government will consider its future strategy after seeing how the court responds to the lawsuit. Lee has been under fire for his involvement in the last presidential election over urban development he implemented while he was mayor of Seongnam, a suburb of Seoul.
In 2021, while he was a candidate for the Democratic Party of Japan, he was charged with violating the Public Offices Election Act for making false statements, and was sentenced to one year in prison and two years of probation in the first trial in November last year. However, Lee's side and
Both sides appealed, and the Seoul High Court overturned the verdict and acquitted them in March of this year. After the prosecution appealed, the Supreme Court formed an en banc panel to hear the case and began the hearing.
The court ruled that some of Lee's statements constituted "publication of false facts," overturning the ruling of the second instance trial and sending the case back to the Seoul High Court for further review.
Regarding the Supreme Court's decision, Lee told reporters on the 1st, "My opinion and
"The ruling is a completely different one," he said, adding, "In the end, politics is run by the people. We should follow the will of the people." The Democratic Party of Korea strongly criticized the Supreme Court.
"The Supreme Court's ruling is a clear political criticism and a hasty trial. We strongly condemn the Supreme Court's unjust interference in the presidential election," provincial officials said at a press conference.
Lee is the Democratic Party's official candidate for the presidential election to be held on June 3. According to the results of various opinion polls, he is the most likely candidate to become the next
He is close to the president. He continues to lead the other candidates, but in candidate support surveys conducted around the time of the ruling, the gap between Lee's approval rating and that of conservative candidates has narrowed.
From the 30th of last month to the 2nd of this month, the survey company Realmeter conducted a virtual three-way battle between Lee, former Minister of Employment and Labor Kim Moon-soo of the ruling People Power Party, and former Chairman of the New Innovation Party Lee Jun-seok.
A survey was conducted in anticipation of a showdown between the two candidates. Lee received 46.6% of the votes, still in the lead, but this was down 4.3 points from the 50.9% in the previous survey.
This is believed to be due to the overturning of Lee's acquittal. Korean law stipulates that the decision of the advanced court is binding on the decision of the lower court. Therefore, the high court is expected to hand down a guilty verdict to Lee in the future.
Depending on the sentence decided by the high court, Lee's right to run for office could be suspended. The Democratic Party of Korea is growing increasingly frustrated that the tailwind that has been blowing for Lee up until now could turn into a headwind.
The Supreme Court's Chief Justice Cho Hee-dae said that the party's standing co-election commissioner Kim Min-Seok had overturned the acquittal on May 1 after accepting the prosecution's appeal on March 28.
He questioned the speed of the decision. On the 4th, he held a press conference and asked, "Did the Supreme Court judges really manage to read 60,000 pages of court documents in such a short time?" and "The public really wonders if the judges were able to read the documents."
"If he cannot meet the people's demands, then he must ultimately take responsibility," he said.
The ruling People Power Party responded by accusing the Democratic Party of making Lee an above-the-legal figure, calling for a "legislative rebellion" and "mass madness."
The first hearing of the appeal hearing for Lee will be held at the Seoul High Court on the 15th. The Democratic Party of Korea has been voicing its support for the impeachment of Cho, which has been raised within the party.
The party decided to put the move on hold and ask the high court to change the trial date from the 15th. The party's election strategy committee spokesman, Roh, said, "There are opinions that we should take preemptive measures because we don't have much time.
"There was a sense of crisis that they might be disqualified from being candidates after the high court ruling. Many lawmakers argued that the high court procedure should be delayed as long as possible.
"There were also many opinions that the high court ruling should not be made at all."