Moon to request Cho Kuk's Assembly hearing report amid conflict
South Korean President Moon Jae-in is on path to request the National Assembly resend the parliamentary hearing report for embattled Justice Minister nominee Cho Kuk, a top presidential aide said Tuesday.
The projection comes in the face of the opposition bloc’s vehement objection to Cho, which has only deepened since Cho’s unprecedented press conference Monday.
“President Moon has to request a resubmission (for parliamentary hearing report), it is a legal process,” Kang Ki-jung, a senior presidential secretary for political affairs, said in a radio interview.
“Ultimately, I am unsure how many days, including today, would be given, but it seems like the president will decide a due date for resubmission and notify the National Assembly.”
The president can give the National Assembly a maximum 10 days, which would set a deadline of Sept. 12, to retransfer the parliamentary hearing report, according to National Assembly law.
If the National Assembly does not respond to the request by the given deadline, the president would be authorized to go forward with the nomination.
Moon, who arrived in Myanmar on Tuesday as part of his six-day trip to three Southeast Asian countries, also has the option of ratifying Cho to the post via online approval.
“The case involves six people, including nominee Cho, whose parliamentary hearing report has not been adopted, so there is difficulty in ambiguously giving a long period for submission,” Kang said.
Kang’s remark hints at the likelihood of President Moon setting the deadline before Sept. 12 -- the due date sought by the main opposition Liberty Korea Party.
Despite heightened discontent on the method and format of Cho’s self-arranged press briefing at the National Assembly, the ruling party viewed that controversy surrounding Cho has been settled for the most part through the conference.
The main opposition Liberty Korea Party bashed Cho’s press conference as a “concert that shows disdain for the National Assembly” and “public excuse show.”
It continued to stress the need to hold a parliamentary confirmation hearing for Cho and warned Cheong Wa Dae of pushing ahead with Cho’s nomination without a hearing.
“Nominee Cho, who endures because of his greed for the post, has proved himself disqualified. He ambushed the National Assembly like occupation forces and held a press conference, but paradoxically the nominee cemented the need for his resignation,” main opposition Floor Leader Na Kyung-won said at the party’s urgent press conference at the National Assembly.
“Nominee Cho must have Aladdin’s genie. His daughter was named as a lead writer for a research paper even though it wasn’t asked for and received scholarships out of nowhere even though she didn’t apply for it. He invested over 1 billion won ($822,000) in a private equity fund not knowing what a PE is and it wins a government supply contract,” Na said.
Na added the president should not restrict the time frame for the resubmission of Cho’s report.
Mirroring the main opposition, the minor conservative Bareunmirae Party’s Floor Leader Oh Shin-hwan called Cho a “suspect involved in crimes” and labeled the conference “violent,” noting the party will seek to start a parliamentary investigation and special investigation.
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