It has been reported that 11 Supreme Court justices, including Chief Justice Cho Hee-dae, have informed the National Assembly that they will not attend the hearing on the 14th.
On the 12th, the Court Administrative Office stated in a notice sent to reporters that “the position is that the attendance of judges at hearings regarding trials is difficult in many ways” and “this point has been confirmed as being conveyed to the National Assembly just before.”
It is said that all 11 Supreme Court justices who were requested to attend the hearing, along with the Chief Supreme Court Research Judge and the Supreme Court Chief Secretary, expressed their position of 'difficulty in attending' in a written opinion regarding the summons.
Earlier, the National Assembly’s Legislative and Judiciary Committee decided to hold a hearing on the 14th at 10 a.m. titled 'Hearing on the alleged intervention of the judiciary in the presidential election by Chief Justice Cho Hee-dae and others.' This hearing is reportedly arranged to hear explanations from the justices regarding the Supreme Court's decision to overturn the conviction of Lee Jae-myung, the candidate from the Democratic Party of Korea, for violating the Public Official Election Act on the 1st. It is unprecedented in constitutional history for the National Assembly to hold a hearing on a Supreme Court appellate ruling.
In the legal community, there are concerns that summoning judges as witnesses at a hearing regarding an ongoing case is a violation of current law. Article 8 of the Act on the National Assembly's Audit and Investigation states that the National Assembly's audits or investigations should not be exercised for the purpose of intervening in ongoing trials or investigations. Additionally, there are points raised that the National Assembly questioning individual rulings and placing Supreme Court justices in the hearing room constitutes judicial intervention and infringes on the independence of the judiciary.