Jang Donghyuk: "Ruling Party's Attempt to Annihilate Judiciary Will Boomerang as President Lee's Trial Resumes"

Jang Donghyuk, Leader of the People Power Party, stated on September 13 that the Democratic Party's push to establish a special court for insurrection and to increase the number of Supreme Court justices, among other judicial reforms, "will come back as a boomerang in the form of President Lee Jaemyung's trial resuming, as the Democratic Party attempts to destroy the judiciary."

On his Facebook page that day, Jang targeted Democratic Party Leader Jung Cheongrae's comment that the judiciary had brought reform upon itself, using the phrase "reaping what you sow." Jang responded, "If establishing a special court for insurrection is 'reaping what you sow,' then the resumption of President Lee's trial is 'just deserts.'"

Jang Donghyuk, Leader of the People Power Party. Photo by Yonhap News Agency

Jang also argued, "President Lee and Leader Jung's perception of the prosecution and the judiciary remains at the level of North Korea and China," adding, "I suspect there may be a force even more dangerous than the hardcore Democratic Party supporters, known as 'Gaeddal,' behind President Lee and the Democratic Party."

He continued, addressing the court's concerns over the ruling party's judicial reform proposal and Leader Jung's criticism of Supreme Court Chief Justice Cho Heedae-who said, "Is the arrogance of being able to change a presidential candidate during the election independence of the judiciary?"-by calling such remarks "extremely dangerous."

Earlier that morning, Leader Jung had emphasized the legitimacy of his party's push for judicial reform, referring to the Supreme Court's May decision by the full bench, which overturned and remanded President Lee's Public Official Election Act case with a guilty verdict ahead of the June 3 presidential election. Jung argued, "Wasn't it the judiciary itself that started and brought about judicial reform?"

In response, Assemblywoman Na Kyungwon of the People Power Party also wrote on Facebook, "The arrogance of the Myungcheong (Lee Jaemyung and Jung Cheongrae) power, which seeks to rule above the Constitution by manipulating public opinion, has reached a critical level," adding, "The Myungcheong Democratic Party is even trying to create an unconstitutional special court so they can directly hand down a guilty verdict and complete their insurrection narrative."

She continued, "They are causing this chaos because they have no confidence in obtaining a guilty verdict from the current judiciary," and added, "Moreover, by increasing the number of pro-Lee Supreme Court justices, they are attempting to completely erase their own crimes."

Han Donghoon, former Leader of the People Power Party, also posted on Facebook, "Leader Jung publicly admitted that the real reason for the Democratic Party's destruction of the judiciary is that the Supreme Court did not yield to the Democratic Party in May and handed down a fair verdict on Lee Jaemyung's criminal charges," adding, "'Go ahead if you dare.' The predetermined outcome of this low-grade revenge drama in the style of Jung Cheongrae will be the ultra-short-term self-destruction of the Democratic Party government."

Park Sunghoon, Chief Spokesperson of the People Power Party, also issued a statement referring to President Lee Jaemyung's remarks at a press conference on the 11th, where he said, "The judiciary makes judgments within the structure set by the legislature." Park argued, "The idea of placing the judiciary beneath one's feet for political calculation is a declaration to paralyze the separation of powers and to abuse legislation for the politicization of the judiciary."