Kim Hong-il

By Kim Jung-yoon

The main opposition Democratic United Party (DUP) criticized the candidate selection for the Supreme Court as improper and biased, demanding the Judicial Nominating Committee renounce the recommendation.

Chung Jin-woo, vice spokesman of the DUP raised the issue of the qualifications of the 13 nominees who he claimed consist of candidates with similar backgrounds, and in the same age group.

He said nine out of 13 people graduated from the Law Department of Seoul National University and 12 of them were incumbent high-ranking male judges in their 50s.

“Looking at the recommendation list, it is totally disappointing that the 13 people recommended do not represent diversity in terms of gender, age, connections and their political stance,” said Chung during a press briefing at the National Assembly.

“The minister of justice and the director of the Court Administration Office made a decision in just two hours without processing it thoroughly, and recommended members with connections to their schools and with a conservative political tendency,” Chung said.

The party also pointed out that one of the 13 members was the former prosecutor involved in the so called BBK scandal, stock price manipulation incident surrounding President Lee Myung-bak and his former business partner Kim Kyung-joon.

The DUP accused Kim Hong-il, then the prosecutor dealing with the stock price-fixing scandal, of having given immunity in favor of the President Lee from punishment in the case.

“The recommendation of Kim as a supreme court justice is ridiculous, especially at a time when a National Assembly investigation of the BBK scandal is to be conducted,” said the DUP spokesman.

Kim Kyung-joon

About 20 DUP members, including its interim leader Park Jie-won, urged the committee to confirm the transparency of the recommendation process by revealing how they came to their decision.

They suspected that the recommendation was heavily influenced by Cheong Wa Dae and ministers of certain churches in choosing judge candidates in favor of President Lee.

The opposition demanded a thorough inspection in the recommendation process as to why leading candidates and female judges could not make it to the final lists, and to explain the imbalance between conservative and progressive members.

“In the replacement of one third of the Supreme Court justices, the committee and the incumbent government are attempting to create a conservative judiciary,” DUP said.