[단독] Of the two, only Lim Seong-geun resigned…

Supreme Court Chief Kim Myung-soo’s remarks on May 22 last year raises suspicions. The legal profession suspects that “Chief Supreme Court Kim has harmed the independence of the judiciary by seeing the politicians”notice’.” The opposition party even organized a fact-finding team to investigate the suspicion of impeachment transactions between the Democratic Party, along with Chief Justice Kim. Why did the controversy about Supreme Court Chief Kim’s impeachment remarks spread from’watching passports’ to’impeachment transactions’ suspicion?

After hearing the impeachment remarks of the Supreme Court Chief Kim Seong-geun, the head of the Busan High Court, Lim Sung-geun expressed his gratitude to the Supreme Court. It was on December 14 last year. Judge Lim told a senior official of the court administration He asked, “If you retire on February 28, 2021 due to the expiration of your term of office, but the court’s regular personnel are on February 9, so why don’t you resign in line with the regular greetings?” “The court cannot appoint a successor for 19 days from February 9 to the expiration of his term of office, which could be a hindrance to personnel,” he expressed his appreciation again.

But Deputy Judge Lim received an answer from an administration official saying, “It is the will of Chief Justice (CJ), don’t resign, just stay.” CJ is short for Chief Justice of the Supreme Court in English. It is often used in Korean courts to refer to the Chief Justice. Judge Lim recalled that when he heard this, he replied, “I know.” At that time, it was because he could not predict whether the impeachment proceedings against him would be made in such a quick manner after 52 days.

May 22, 2020, 7 months ago. Supreme Court Chief Kim said in the face of Deputy Chief Judge Im expressing his appreciation, “What would you hear from the National Assembly if I installed it like that for impeachment, but if I accepted the resignation?” May 22 was about a month after the general election of the 21st National Assembly members was held. The opening of the 21st National Assembly was about a week later. However, why did Supreme Court Chief Kim worry, saying, “We set up to impeach it.”

The first voice from the 20th National Assembly to impeach judges who were involved in allegations of abuse of the judicial administration power. In September 2018, the Democratic Party announced that it would carry out an investigation into the state affairs of the’Judical Nongdan’ and push for impeachment of the judge if an offense was revealed, but this plan was fuzzy.

After that, the discussion on the impeachment of the judge reappeared in an interview with Rep. Lee Tan-hee, who was then a lawyer in May 2019. He took off his legal uniform in February 2019 as a whistleblower allegedly blacklisted by the judiciary, and reignited the theory of impeachment of judges outside the National Assembly.

When he was selected as the 10th talent for the Democratic Party’s 4·15 general election in January 2020, he raised his voice, saying, “In order to restore trust in the judiciary, the impeachment of an unfair judge is necessary.”

A month later, in February, when Judge Lim was acquitted in the first trial, he said in a media interview, “The Chief Justice can punish. However, in May of last year, only 10 people were disciplined, and indulgences were given to the rest.” He said, “It is practically possible to impeach a judge.”

Two months later, in the 4-15 general election, he joined the National Assembly as a member of the Democratic Party along with two other judges.

Contrary to the expectations of Chief Justice Kim, who had noticed before the formation of the 21st member of the National Assembly, the impeachment discussion did not take place immediately after opening. This was because Congressman Lee, who led the impeachment theory, took a leave of work for health reasons such as panic disorder in June and August last year.

One month after Lee’s return, in October, news was announced that Senior Judge Im Seong-geun had given up his application for reappointment. Rep. Lee held a press conference on December 23rd and declared that “we will do all we can to impeach Senior Judges Lim Seong-geun and Lee Dong-geun.” At the Democratic Party’s first general meeting held on January 27, Lee explained the promotion of impeachment proceedings against the two people who were involved in suspicion of intervening in the 7-hour trial of the Sewol ferry. However, there was no conclusion on the day due to an atmosphere of concern about headwinds in the party.

The next day, Congressman Lee proposed a plan to impeach only one of the chief judges Lim Seong-geun, excluding the chief judge Lee Dong-geun, and the party leadership accepted this.

Unfortunately, January 28 was the date of the regular announcement of the high court chief judge. It was announced that the resignation issued to the court by Judge Lee Dong-geun, who had been on the impeachment bill with Judge Lim, was accepted as of February 9 and resigned. Chief Justice Kim Myung-soo rejected Judge Lim Seong-geun’s request for resignation, but only accepted the resignation of Chief Justice Lee Dong-geun. In the end, 161 pan-passport lawmakers, including Rep. Lee Tan-hee, proposed an impeachment proceeding against Judge Im on February 1, and on the 4th, with 179 people in favor, the impeachment bill for the judge was passed at the National Assembly for the first time in the history of the constitution.

Unlike Senior Judge Lim, the Supreme Court only accepted the reason for accepting Lee’s resignation. “Deputy Judge Lee Dong-geun did not receive any disciplinary action related to the Judicial Nongdan, and even if he was disciplined, there was no reason not to accept his resignation because it was a regular greeting season.“

In the end, Judge Im gave the reason that he did not accept his resignation because he was punished by the Supreme Court Justice and Disciplinary Committee..

The opposition party raised suspicion of the’impeachment transaction’ against Supreme Court Chief Kim Myung-soo. On the 5th, five members of the’Impeachment Transaction Fact Investigation Group’, the power of the people, questioned the suspicion during a protest visit to Supreme Court Chief Kim Myung-soo and pressed their voluntary resignation.

Rep. Jang Je-won said, “I have a suspicion that I have made an impeachment deal with the ruling party. Is this solved by hiding for a day or two?” On behalf of the lawmaker, Mul-eun should clarify what he lied in the question-and-answer (that he had not made an impeachment remark).”

Rep. Kim Gi-hyun, head of the fact-finding team, said, “Because I did not deliberately accept the resignation letter but even lied to drive the junior judge to impeachment, I have no choice but to hold a strict responsibility.”

Kim Jong-in, chairman of the People’s Power Emergency Response Committee, held a press conference that day and demanded that the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court resign, saying, “The appearance of the judiciary’s refusal to accept the resignation for fear of being politically criticized and offering a junior judge as an impeachment offering is itself a shock.” .

A court official said, “I have nothing to tell you about at this time” on the suspicion of the’impeachment transaction’.

Reporter Lee Sujeong [email protected]