Seungwon Kim "It's time to discuss the abolition of the National Court Administration... We can't hesitate any longer."

On the 31st, the Legislation and Judiciary Committee of the National Assembly decided to proceed with inquiries on pending issues, including Chief Justice Cho Hee-dae's 'written recommendation' to the Supreme Court Justice and the referral to the plenary body of the appellate trial in the case of former Prime Minister Han Deok-soo and former Minister of the Interior and Safety Lee Sang-min on charges of engaging in important insurrection duties.

To this end, the Judiciary Committee, led by the Democratic Party of Korea, decided at a general meeting on the 21st to request the attendance of witnesses for Chief Justice Cho and National Court Administration Director Noh Kyung-pil (Supreme Court Justice).

Rep. Kim Seung-won of the Democratic Party, the ruling party's secretary, said of Chief Justice Cho and Minister Roh, "I believe that their attitude of ignoring the National Assembly and the President's Office has gone too far. They should attend the general meeting and reveal in detail what they have done instead of hiding behind the curtain or agents."

The People Power Party opposed the adoption of witnesses and left before the decision was made.

People Power Party Legislative Committee members later argued at a press conference at the National Assembly, “Calling the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court to the National Assembly to inquire into the circumstances of the recommendation means that the National Assembly will posthumously interrogate the exercise of the right of recommendation entrusted to the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court by the Constitution.”

They claimed, “If the Democratic Party wants the truth, the people who should be put on the witness stand are the President and the Senior Secretary for Civil Affairs,” and added, “We hope the Democratic Party will immediately withdraw its unilaterally decided schedule for questioning pending issues and the adoption of witnesses.”

At the general meeting on the 19th, the Judiciary Committee adopted Chief Justice Cho as a witness, led by the ruling party, including the Democratic Party.

At the time, Chief Justice Cho did not attend the plenary session.

Until now, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court has not failed to attend the National Assembly as a matter of custom.

Instead, the Director of the National Court Administration (Supreme Court Justice) and executives of the National Administration, who are not involved in the trial, appeared at the National Assembly and responded to pending issues.

Meanwhile, Rep. Kim Seung-won pointed out on MBC radio that the 'imperial system of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court' was the problem in relation to the issue of judicial reform, and said, "The National Court Administration used to be the Chief Justice's task force, but it is necessary to abolish the National Court Administration and change it to the Court Secretariat so that it can only do execution work, and to allow the judges' consultative body to decide on important court matters."

He later met with reporters and was asked whether the bill related to the abolition of the National Court Administration would be passed in this year's regular session of the National Assembly. He responded, "It is time to fully discuss it, and I expressed my personal opinion that we cannot hesitate any longer."

Kim Han-gyu, senior vice-president of the National Assembly Policy Committee, responded to the same question by saying, “That part is not yet being discussed in the party.”