Lee Jae-myung criticizes Han Duck-soo… "He has no authority to appoint judges, it's an overreach"
Lee Jae-myung, the leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, criticized Acting President Han Duck-soo for appointing a successor to the Constitutional Court judges.
Lee stated, "He does not have that authority. I think he has overstepped."
On the 8th, after a trial on the Daejang-dong, Wirye, Baekhyeon-dong, and Seongnam FC cases held by the 33rd Criminal Division of the Seoul Central District Court (led by Chief Judge Lee Jin-kwan), Lee responded to reporters' questions regarding his stance on the nomination of Han Sang-hoon, Chief of the Legislation Ministry, and Lee Wan-kyu, Chief Judge of the Seoul High Court, as candidates for Constitutional Court judges.
Earlier that day, the Acting President appointed Ma Eun-hyeok, a Constitutional Court judge, who had previously been on hold, and nominated the Legislation Minister and the Chief Judge as candidates to succeed retiring judges Moon Hyung-bae and Lee Mi-sun on the 18th.
Lee emphasized, "It seems that the Acting President has mistaken himself for the President. Just because a rabbit enters a tiger's den, it does not become a tiger. The composition of the Constitutional Court is determined by the elected president and the elected National Assembly, each appointing three members, with three appointed by an impartial Supreme Court."
Meanwhile, Lee is currently undergoing trial after being indicted in March 2023 on charges of providing favors to private businesses by approving a structure for the Daejang-dong development project during his term as the mayor of Seongnam.
On the morning of the trial, when questioned about why he did not appear as a witness in the Daejang-dong civilian trial and why he had not received documents for the appeal of the election law case, Lee did not provide any responses.
He also refrained from answering the question about whether the schedule for the perjury indictment would change due to the presidential election calendar, as he headed towards the courtroom.
Image source: Lee Jae-myung, Leader of the Democratic Party of Korea / News1, Han Duck-soo, Acting President and Prime Minister / News1 (provided by the Prime Minister's Office)
