Seoul, Oct 6 (IANS): South Korea’s National Assembly launched its annual audit of government agencies on Tuesday, with rival parties clashing over the Supreme Court chief’s refusal to recommend a new justice nominee to the president and the recently publicised transfer of two North Korean prisoners of war (POWs) from Ukraine.
Eight of the Assembly’s 17 standing committees opened their sessions starting at 10 am (local time) on the first day of the audit, scheduled to run through October 27.
During the audit of the legislation and judiciary committee, lawmakers mainly wrangled over Supreme Court Chief Justice Cho Hee-dae’s refusal to recommend a new candidate for court justice as requested by the presidential office, Yonhap News Agency reported.
Earlier in August, the presidential office asked Cho to recommend a new candidate after taking issue with his written recommendation of two Supreme Court justice nominees to South Korea’s President Lee Jae Myung. Cho rejected the request, citing a lack of constitutional grounds to do so.
Under the Constitution, Supreme Court justices are appointed by the president on the recommendation of the chief justice and with the consent of the National Assembly.
During the audit, Cho declined to take an oath as a witness, citing the principle of separation of powers among the legislative, executive and judicial branches.
The rival parties clashed from the beginning of the session over whether Cho should be allowed to leave after delivering his opening remarks.
The ruling Democratic Party demanded that he remain and answer lawmakers’ questions, while the main opposition People Power Party argued that Cho should be allowed to leave, as chief justices have customarily done after the opening remarks with the approval of the head of the parliamentary judiciary committee.
During the audit of the foreign affairs and unification committee, recent diplomatic tensions with Ukraine over the transfer of two North Korean POWs to Seoul were a key point of contention.
Last month, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy publicly disclosed the transfer, a move South Korea has said was not agreed upon between the two sides.
Seoul has since accused Ukraine of breaching a bilateral agreement to keep the transfer secret, while Ukraine has denied the existence of such an agreement.
South Korea’s Foreign Minister Cho Hyun said South Korea had received a message from Ukraine that included an apology over its disclosure, but that it “fell somewhat short of what we had expected.”
The recent explosions of North Korea-planted land mines inside the Demilitarised Zone (DMZ), which injured three South Korean soldiers, also came under scrutiny during the audit sessions.
