Lee Jun-seok: 'What criminal defendant gets to pick the justices who will try him?'

Reform Party leader Lee Jun-seok sharply criticized the controversy over Supreme Court justice appointments Thursday, asking, "What criminal defendant would dare negotiate and handpick the justices who will try him?"

Speaking at a Reform Party supreme council meeting at the National Assembly that morning, Lee said, "Even someone who wins an election must have things they cannot do as they please," adding that "defining and abiding by those limits is what mature democracy looks like."

He then took aim at the ruling party's position on the appointments, saying it had "kept raising the stakes in challenging the Supreme Court justice nominations" and was now arguing that "it was a breach of protocol for the chief justice to submit candidates by document without meeting the president, and that he should have consulted the president."

Lee sharpened his criticism by invoking the suspension of President Lee Jae Myung's trials. "President Lee Jae Myung is a defendant facing five criminal cases — violations of the Public Official Election Act, suborning perjury, the Daejang-dong case, the corporate credit card case, and the North Korea remittance case," he said. "Those proceedings are temporarily on hold because of the constitutional provision exempting a sitting president from standing trial."

Lee went on to say, "Those trials will resume in June 2030, when his term ends. The election law case was remanded by the Supreme Court with a finding of guilt, so when it reopens, it will ultimately go back to the Supreme Court."

"The Supreme Court bench will expand from 14 to 26 justices, and the person filling those seats is President Lee Jae Myung," he said. "The presidential term is five years and a justice's term is six years. The people he appoints now will be the ones handling his trials after he leaves office."

Lee then said, "No one can be a judge in their own case." He explained that the legal system already provides for this: "The rules on disqualification, challenge and recusal exist not to cast doubt on judges but to protect the integrity of verdicts."

Lee also took a swipe at the "precedent" the Democratic Party had invoked. "There is a principle of justice older than any precedent the ruling party can cite: you do not touch the trials you will face yourself," he said. "The Constitution grants the president the power of appointment, but it divides the work — the chief justice nominates candidates, and the National Assembly gives consent. The intent is for the three to share the power."

Lee went on to say, "If the president finds that division uncomfortable, what he finds uncomfortable is democracy itself," and called on the ruling party to "at least walk back the idea that a defendant should negotiate and choose the justices who will try him."