Jo Woncheol: "Chief Justice Violates Constitutional Duty If He Fails to Submit a New Recommendation" [2026 National Assembly Audit]
Dispute over a new Supreme Court justice recommendation... Cho Woncheol: "Refusing to submit a new recommendation would mean failing to fulfill the chief justice's duties"
Jo Woncheol, minister of the Ministry of Government Legislation, answers lawmakers' questions during a parliamentary audit of the ministry at the National Assembly on Oct. 15, 2026. Photo by Yoon Dongju
View original imageJo Woncheol, minister of the Ministry of Government Legislation, said that “the president is not bound by the chief justice’s recommendation” in response to the standoff between the Presidential Office and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Cho Hee-dae over the renomination of a Supreme Court justice candidate. He also said that if the chief justice does not submit a new recommendation, he would be failing to fulfill his constitutional duty.
On Oct. 15, 2026, during the National Assembly Legislation and Judiciary Committee’s parliamentary audit of the Ministry of Government Legislation, Minister Jo was asked by Kim Donga of the Democratic Party of Korea about the nature of the recommendation authority. He replied that it was “a kind of recommendation and proposal.” He added, “The president is not bound by the recommendation and is not required to appoint the recommended candidate.” On the National Assembly’s consent process, Minister Jo said, “Conceptually, seeking the National Assembly’s consent when there is no intention to make the appointment is contradictory.”
Minister Jo directly refuted Chief Justice Cho’s claim that the request for a new recommendation was unconstitutional. He said, “That claim presumes that the president is bound by the chief justice’s recommendation and must appoint the recommended candidate, but no one in our country interprets the Constitution that way.”
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When Assemblyman Kim then asked whether failing to submit a new recommendation would amount to the chief justice neglecting his duty, Minister Jo replied, “If the chief justice does not exercise his recommendation authority, resulting in the failure to appoint a Supreme Court justice and disrupting the composition or operation of the Supreme Court, he would be failing to fulfill his constitutional duty.”
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