-
- ▲ Chung Cheong-rae, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea (left), is attending a closed general meeting of lawmakers held at the National Assembly in Yeouido, Seoul on the 16th. ⓒNewsis
As the Democratic Party of Korea revised the law on establishing a special civil war tribunal to remove any possibility of unconstitutionality, opposition from hard-core supporters is growing stronger. They expressed their dissatisfaction with the party leadership, criticizing them for “offering a treasonous criminal to Supreme Court Chief Justice Cho Hee-dae.”
According to the political world on the 17th, the Democratic Party held a general meeting of lawmakers the previous day and decided to significantly revise the law on establishing a special civil war court. Earlier, as voices pointing out the unconstitutionality of the National Insurrection Tribunal grew louder within the legal community and even within the party, the government took action to respond.
First, it was decided to give the right to recommend members of the dedicated court, which was the most controversial, to the court itself. The recommendation committee is also planned to be comprised of court insiders. Previously, the Democratic Party attempted to give recommendation rights to an external organization, but faced criticism for violating the constitutional provision that ‘judicial power belongs to the courts.’ The dedicated court was appointed by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court upon the recommendation of the Supreme Court Justice.
In addition, a special civil war court was introduced from the second trial. Ji Gwi-yeon’s court will continue to hear the first trial of former President Yoon Seok-yeol‘s alleged rebellion. ‘Seok-yeol Yoon’ was removed from the name of the bill. This is to avoid controversy over dispositive laws (laws targeting specific individuals or cases).
The Democratic Party emphasized that “the possibility of unconstitutionality has been eliminated” when explaining the direction of revision of the bill, but some hard-core supporters reacted angrily.
On President Lee Jae-myung’s fan cafe ‘Jae-myeong’s Village’, a netizen posted an article about the Democratic Party’s revision of the National Incident Trial Act and claimed, “I’m really angry,” and “They just made a noise and then handed it to Cho Hee-dae.”
Comments on this article included, “This is an extremely incompetent party that is no different from the Insurrection Party,” “Kim Byeong-gi, who ate with Coupang, and the incompetent Jeong Cheong-rae are also pathetic,” and “The Democratic Party leadership is incompetent.”
Negative voices also decreased on the bulletin board of ‘Ddanzi Ilbo’, an online community where supporters of the ruling party are mainly active.
One netizen said, “The Democratic Party is consistent,” and “I’m really angry because of the well-heeled lawmakers who act like a flock of innocent sheep under the frame of unconstitutional possession.”
Another netizen said to CEO Jeong Cheong-rae, “Who told you to make this rag?” and “What’s the point of representing me like this? Just get rid of it.”
Ddanzi Ilbo is a community run by YouTuber Kim Eo-jun. In a recent lecture to first-time party lawmakers, Representative Chung said, “In terms of support for the Democratic Party, Ddanzi Ilbo is a barometer. It can be a measure of public sentiment.”
Meanwhile, Park Soo-hyun, senior spokesperson for the Democratic Party, appeared on Kim Eo-jun’s YouTube broadcast that day and said, “We also took into account realistic conditions” regarding the revision of the law on establishing a special civil war tribunal.
