Hong Jun-pyo warns of 'constitutional dictatorship' as ruling camp eyes Supreme Court expansion

Former Daegu Mayor Hong Jun-pyo criticized the government and ruling party's push to expand the Supreme Court bench and the surrounding dispute over the power to recommend justices, calling it a path toward the consolidation — not separation — of the three branches of government.

Speaking Thursday night on CBS Radio's "Park Jae-hong's One-Round Bout," Hong said the Lee Jae Myung administration already controls the executive branch, and that if Han Dong-hoon's faction breaks away from the People Power Party, the Democratic Party would command two-thirds of the National Assembly. "If they then take control of the judiciary, it will no longer be a separation of legislative, judicial and executive powers — it will be a merger of all three," he said. "Democracy will disappear and an era of constitutional dictatorship will arrive."

Hong pointed to proposed amendments to the Court Organization Act that would increase the number of Supreme Court justices from 14 to 26 as the basis for his warning. "The US Supreme Court has nine justices, Japan's Supreme Court has 15, and Germany and France have 12," he said. "The only country with that many justices is Venezuela."

He drew a direct parallel with the late Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez, saying Chavez expanded his Supreme Court to 32 justices, filled the seats with loyalists and sustained 16 years of authoritarian rule. "The path President Lee Jae Myung is taking is one of merging all three branches," Hong said. "He is set to appoint 22 justices during his term — and frankly, it is because of his own trials after he leaves office."

Hong also turned his criticism on the opposition, saying it was failing to hold the government to account on substantive issues. "The opposition is not pressuring the government on big themes — it bickers over gossip and walks out when things don't go its way," he said. "The opposition is not playing its role. What I see at the national audit and elsewhere is nothing more than a show."