National Assembly urged to remove scandal-linked judges

Members of civic groups hold a press conference at the National Assembly in Seoul, Tuesday, urging the Assembly to impeach six judges involved in the judiciary power abuse scandal. / Yonhap

By Kang Seung-woo

A ruling party lawmaker, progressive lawyers and civic groups have urged the National Assembly to submit a motion to impeach six judges linked to a judicial power abuse case.

The call is in line with last week's nearly all-party agreement to form an independent judicial panel to “fairly” deal with the scandal, in which former Supreme Court Chief Justice Yang Sung-tae allegedly used high-profile trials as bargaining chips in dealings with the presidential office over the establishment of a new court of appeals.

“It has been five months since the power abuse scandal came to light,” the group said at a press conference at the National Assembly in Seoul, Tuesday. “Despite ever-escalating distrust of the judiciary, judges who collaborated with the crimes by Yang and the National Court Administration still remain in their posts.

“Rather than just excluding the judges from the judicial panel, they should be impeached and removed from office permanently.”

The judges in the hot seat include Supreme Court Justice Kwon Soon-il.

According to the Constitution, no judge shall be removed from office except by impeachment or a prison sentence or heavier punishment _ a measure to secure the independence of the judiciary.

A motion to impeach a judge can be proposed by at least a third of the total members of the National Assembly and it can be passed if more than half the total members vote for it. If at least six of the nine judges on the Constitutional Court approve the motion, the judges are finally removed from office.

However, no judge has been impeached so far.

The activists urged the parliament to rapidly initiate the move to remove the judges from office.

“Although the status of judges shall be strongly guaranteed by the Constitution, lawmakers are required to show that judges can also be subject to impeachment if they do something that does not represent the majority of the people,” they said.

“The National Assembly has to take the initiative to help the judicial branch to regain trust from the public.”

Rep. Park Ju-min of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea also said those who are linked to the judiciary power abuse scandal must take responsibility for the wrongdoing.

“Regardless of whether to face criminal punishment or not, there should be punitive actions to hold them responsible and one of the options is to impeach them,” Park said.

The main opposition Liberty Korea Party is opposed to the impeachment motion, claiming the possible removal of six judges might lead to a judicial vacuum.

However, Seo Ki-ho, a former judge who leads a taskforce team of the lawyers' group, dismissed the concern, saying there are nearly 300 judges and 13 Supreme Court justices.

Neighboring countries also have a judge impeachment system.

In Japan, the Judge Impeachment Court is set at the Diet, where politicians decide if a judge should be impeached.

In the United States, the House of Representatives votes to impeach federal judges. Once a judge is impeached, the Senate determines if the official should be removed from office.

So far, 15 federal judges have been impeached and eight have been removed.