[2025 Audit] Head of Government Legislation: "Suspending Lee's Trial Aligns with Constitution"... Opposition: "Serious Legal Distortion, Must Resign"

People Power Party's Judiciary Committee: "Cho Woncheol Must Voluntarily Resign"

On October 24, the People Power Party called for the voluntary resignation of Cho Woncheol, the head of the Ministry of Government Legislation, after he stated that suspending President Lee Jaemyung's trial is in line with the intent of the Constitution.

Members of the People Power Party's Legislation and Judiciary Committee held a press conference at the National Assembly that day, urging Cho to step down. Na Kyungwon, who has been nominated as the opposition secretary of the committee, criticized, "The chief legal officer of a national institution has essentially declared the president's criminal trial to be a non-issue," and added, "This constitutes a serious distortion of the law, overturning legal interpretations on his own."

Yonhap News Agency

During a parliamentary audit of the Ministry of Government Legislation by the Legislation and Judiciary Committee at the National Assembly, Cho responded to a question from Jeon Hyunhee of the Democratic Party of Korea, which suggested that under the Constitution, the president's criminal trial should be suspended, by saying, "I think so."

Cho explained, "The prevailing view among constitutional scholars is that Article 84 of the Constitution encompasses not only indictments but also the suspension of ongoing prosecutions, and this is consistent with the intent of the constitutional provision." Article 84 of the Constitution stipulates, "The President shall not be subject to criminal prosecution while in office except for cases of insurrection or treason."

Na pointed out that Cho was a classmate of President Lee at the Judicial Research and Training Institute and also served as a lawyer in the Daejang-dong case, stating, "The Ministry of Government Legislation, the core institution responsible for constitutional legal interpretation, is being reduced to a private attorney for the administration," and demanded, "Cho must resign immediately."