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| President Moon Jae-in, third from right, greets justices Lee Mi-sun, left, and Moon Hyung-bae, right, before awarding appointment certificate as the Constitutional Court justices at Cheong Wa Dae in Seoul, Friday. / Korea Times photo by Ryu Hyo-jin |
By Kim Jae-heun
Despite strong protests from conservatives, President Moon Jae-in moved ahead with the appointments of two new constitutional justices to make the top court more liberal.
In addition, the decision is raising speculation that the top court's future rulings on hot-button issues such as abolishing the death penalty and protecting homosexual military conscripts from persecution may tilt to progressive stances.
During his visit to Central Asia last Friday, Moon appointed Lee Mi-sun and Moon Hyung-bae to the nine-member bench of the Constitutional Court, increasing the number of its non-conservative justices to six, the number needed to achieve a two-thirds majority.
"President Moon did not want to leave justice seats at the Constitutional Court empty, not even for a day, and he approved the designation of two justices online," said Yoon Do-han, senior presidential secretary for public relations.
The terms for former justices Seo Gi-seog and Cho Yong-ho have officially ended as of last Thursday and the two new justices took over the seats immediately, which angered opposition parties, especially the Liberty Korea Party (LKP).
Moon did not wait for the National Assembly's confirmation hearing report, which isn't mandatory for the President to appoint the two justices. But it is expected to bring a clash between the ruling Democratic Party of Korea and the opposition parties.
According to the LKP, President Moon increased justices sympathetic to his administration in the Constitutional Court to six out of nine, which is enough to rule a law unconstitutional.
The LKP further pointed out that five among them were members of either the Society for Research on Our Law or Society for International Humanitarian Law, which are study groups of progressive judges.
Cheong Wa Dae claimed the President tapped the two justices to diversify the top court. But the LKP refuted that only 20 percent of judges in the country study in the two progressive groups and they have taken over half the justice seats at the Constitutional Court.
"The government is trying to send laws it doesn't like to the top court and rule them unconstitutional," Rep. Na Kyung-won, floor leader of the LKP, said Friday morning. "It looks like Moon intends to dominate the Constitutional Court by appointing government-friendly justices there."
Currently, six out of nine Constitutional Court justices are classified with a "progressive tendency" as they were tapped by President Moon, the ruling Democratic Party of Korea and Supreme Court Chief Justice Kim Myeong-su, who was also appointed by the President.
According to the law, the President and chief justice each appoint three judges and the National Assembly elects three to fill the full nine seats at the Constitutional Court. This is to avoid a concentration of power among the legislative, executive and judicial branches.
Justices Lee Young-jin and Lee Seon-Ae are considered moderate and only justice Lee Jong-seok, who was recommended by the LKP, is categorized as conservative.
Eight out of nine were named under the Moon administration as former President Park Geun-hye was impeached before her term ended. There has been no case where this many justices were appointed under one president.
The Constitutional Court overturned the abortion ban after 66 years on April 11.
There are many controversial cases submitted to the top court including the death penalty, punishment of homosexual activity in military conscripts and age requirements for elections.
The court is also reviewing a trial whereby wartime sex slaves have requested to retract a compensation agreement signed between the Japanese government and former President Park Geun-hye's administration.
A number of legal experts believe justices' progressive tendencies could affect the results of the Constitutional Court's rulings.
Meanwhile, the LKP said it will hold a protest against President Moon, calling for him to dismiss senior presidential secretary for civil affairs Cho Kuk and senior presidential secretary for personnel affairs Cho Hyun-ok.
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