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| Democratic Party of Korea floor leader Rep. Hong Young-pyo, second from left, speaks during a press conference held Thursday at the National Assembly to announce a joint move to establish a special court to rule on a judicial scandal involving former Chief Justice Yang Sung-tae and the Supreme Court. From left are floor leaders Rep. Kim Kwan-young of the Bareunmirae Party, Hong, Rep. Chang Byoung-wan of the Party for Democracy and Peace and Rep. Youn So-ha of the Justice Party. / Korea Times photo by Oh Dae-geun |
The four major political parties agreed Thursday to push for the establishment of a special court to rule on a high-profile power abuse scandal during the Park Geun-hye administration involving the Supreme Court and former Chief Justice Yang Sung-tae.
Floor leaders of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), the minor opposition Bareunmirae Party (BMP), the Justice Party and the Party for Democracy and Peace (PDP) held a joint press conference to announce this plan. They vowed to pass a special bill this month to establish the court.
"To deal fairly with the judicial scandal, we should establish a special court," the floor leaders said in a joint statement.
"The issuance rate of search warrants in ordinary criminal cases is about 90 percent. But not one single search warrant has been issued in this judicial scandal. All of them were dismissed or only partially accepted. So, it is hard for us to expect a fair judicial process. That's why we need a special judicial procedure to deal with this scandal."
On Aug. 14, Rep. Park Ju-min of the DPK proposed the bill introducing a procedure to set up the special court under the Seoul Central District Court so it would be independent of the Supreme Court and the influence of Yang.
Yang served as the top court chief from 2011 to 2017 under Presidents Lee Myung-bak and Park who are now in jail for their part in the scandal and other irregularities. He is suspected of giving rulings in favor of the Park administration by abusing his power in politically sensitive trials.
If the bill passes, it will be one of few cases of the country establishing such a special court.
The country has established special courts in limited cases. A "revolutionary special court" was formed in 1961 to deal with dissent after the May 16 military coup based on the then "Country Re-establishment Contingency Law."
LKP's opposition
The main opposition Liberty Korea Party (LKP), which was the ruling party during the Park administration, failed to join the move. The four floor leaders called for its cooperation because it would be impossible to pass the bill without its consent, as at least 180 votes out of 300 are needed in accordance with the National Assembly Advancement Act.
"We ask the LKP to act together with us so we can form the special court during the regular Assembly session," their statement said.
"The four parties will try harder to persuade the LKP so we can finish this during the regular session," Hong said.
The LKP, however, is against the move as some of its members were involved in the scandal, and did not join the press conference.
LKP floor leader Rep. Kim Sung-tae said the establishment of the special court ignored the current judiciary.
"The Moon Jae-in administration and the ruling DPK are simply trying to disrupt cooperation between the opposition parties. If you want to deny the judiciary, the resignation of the current Chief Justice Kim Myeong-su should be prioritized," Kim said.
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