Lawmakers to present bill for Shin impeachment

Supreme Court Justice Shin Young-chul yesterday faced legislative demands that he step down after opposition lawmakers agreed to cooperate in an unprecedented move to impeach him.

Pro-Park United said yesterday that its five lawmakers will join the Democratic Party’s move to submit an impeachment bill to oust Shin over his attempts last year to influence junior judges in trials of anti-government protesters. Although Supreme Court Chief Justice Lee Yong-hoon had reproached him - and Shin had apologized for his actions - rank-and-file judges in the district courts around the nation as well as some senior judges at high courts have said these actions fall short.

Judges at four of the nation’s six high courts and 12 of 20 district courts have met to discuss the issue since May 14. Of the 2,400 judges around the nation, more than 60 percent have participated in the discussions. Although they did not publicly demand Shin resign, they said Shin is unfit to perform the job of Supreme Court justice.

Given this unrest, the Democratic Party has pushed for Shin’s impeachment. An impeachment bill against a Supreme Court justice can only be introduced to the National Assembly for deliberation when one-third of the incumbent lawmakers sponsor it.

As of now, the legislature has 296 incumbent lawmakers, so an impeachment bill would require the backing of 99 lawmakers to be considered. The Democratic Party said its 84 lawmakers will sponsor the bill. In addition, five lawmakers of the Democratic Labor Party, one from the progressive New Jinbo Party and one from the Creative Korea Party have expressed their intention to join the impeachment drive.

Four independent lawmakers representing the Jeolla region, including representatives Chung Dong-young and Shin Kuhn, also said they would support the DP’s move. With the support of the five Pro-Park United lawmakers, the Democratic Party will have recruited 100 representatives to sponsor the impeachment bill - one more than necessary. “I think we will just make it,” said Woo Yoon-keun, deputy floor leader of the Democratic Party. “It will be the first attempt by the lawmakers to impeach a Supreme Court justice.”

The Democrats will collect signatures starting next week and submit the impeachment bill before the end of this month. It is, however, unlikely that Shin will actually be impeached because impeachment requires a majority of the National Assembly. Currently commanding 170 seats of the legislature, the Grand National Party has said it will not support “an attempt to shake the judiciary.” The conservative opposition Liberty Forward Party says it also disapproves of the DP’s plan to impeach Shin.

By Ser Myo-ja [myoja@joongang.co.kr]