Jeong Hyeong-sik, candidate for Constitutional Court, told Han Dong-hoon’s personnel information group, “Concerns about the impact of judicial independence” – KBC Gwangju Broadcasting

Under the Yoon Seok-yeol administration, the Personnel Information Management Group under the Ministry of Justice is in charge of personnel verification for Supreme Court Justices and Constitutional Court Justices, and declared that Jeong Hyeong-sik, a candidate for Constitutional Court Justice, is “not desirable.”

In a written response to a personnel hearing submitted to the National Assembly on the 10th, Candidate Chung responded to a question from Democratic Party lawmakers Kim Young-bae, Park Yong-jin, and Park Ju-min about the personnel verification of judges by the Ministry of Justice’s Personnel Information Management Group by saying, “We conduct personnel verification of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Justices of the Supreme Court, President of the Constitutional Court, and Constitutional Court judges.” He responded by saying, “I understand that there is an opinion that what the Ministry of Justice’s Personnel Information Management Group does does not comply with the principle of separation of powers.”

Candidate Jeong specifically said, “Even if it is efficient and necessary to conduct personnel verification by the Ministry of Justice’s Personnel Information Management Group, there is a risk of creating the appearance that this is affecting the independence of the judiciary.” “It is not desirable for the Ministry of Justice to take charge of this,” he said.

Previously, on May 30 last year, ahead of the launch of the Personnel Information Management Group, Minister of Justice Han Dong-hoon responded to questions from reporters saying, “There are voices of concern about the Ministry of Justice’s verification of the highest-ranking judges.” He responded, “We will also receive questions from the National Assembly and the media regarding personnel verification in the future. “It will be subject to audit by the Board of Audit and Inspection,” he countered, adding, “This is a meaningful progress in shifting from the area of ​​the past secret work of political power to the normal work of civil servants.”

In response to questions from Democratic Party lawmakers Kwon Chil-seung and Park Yong-jin asking about his position on the abolition of the death penalty, Candidate Chung said, “Regardless of whether it is unconstitutional or not, I think the death penalty should be abolished as an orientation,” and “The timing should follow the consensus of the people.” I answered.

This also occurred at the National Assembly on the 7th of last month, saying, “We need the death penalty or life imprisonment without parole, which must have a preventive effect. This is different from the opinion of a minister who said, “There are clearly criminals who need to be permanently isolated.”

In response to Rep. Kwon Chil-seung’s question regarding the case involving party leader Lee Jae-myeong, “There are criticisms that the court is a warrant vending machine,” Candidate Chung responded, “It is absolutely necessary to consider the possibility of abuse of power by investigative agencies and human rights violations in the process of issuing search and seizure warrants.” “He answered.

Regarding whether to introduce a search and seizure warrant pre-trial issue, he stated, “There is a need to find a way to properly harmonize the protection of the basic rights of citizens subject to investigation and the state’s ability to respond to crimes.”

In response to a question from Democratic Party lawmaker Song Ki-heon asking for his opinion on President Yoon Seok-yeol’s pardon of Kim Tae-woo, former head of Gangseo-gu District, who was found guilty by the Supreme Court on charges of leaking official secrets, he responded, “The President’s exercise of the right to pardon is an exception to the separation of powers, which is the principle of the rule of law, and therefore is not in the national interest. “If there is a reason that meets the purpose of national integration, it must be exercised in a supplementary or exceptional manner through legal procedures,” he said.

Candidate Jeong Hyeong-sik, who was nominated by President Yoon Seok-yeol as the successor to former Constitutional Court Chief Justice Yoo Nam-seok on the 16th of last month, is scheduled for a National Assembly personnel hearing on the 12th.

#Jeong Hyeong-sik #Constitutional Court Justice #Han Dong-hoon #Confirmation hearing