Three justices of the Constitutional Court -- Justice Lee Jong-seok, who heads the court, Justice Lee Young-jin and Justice Kim Ki-young -- will retire on Oct. 17.
The court is comprised of nine justices. Three are nominated by the president, three by the chief justice of the Supreme Court and three by the National Assembly.
All three justices to step down this time were picked by the Assembly, so their successors should be elected by its vote. However, the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea dawdles.
The court can try a case when seven or more justices attend. It cannot if three seats are vacant.
It is reviewing the case on the impeachment of Lee Jin-sook, chair of the Korea Communications Commission. If three seats in the court are left unfilled, the trial will not move forward.
The main opposition party suspended the appointee of President Yoon Suk Yeol by pushing through its motion to impeach her. As long as the court is short and malfunctioning, Lee will remain suspended. The party may want this situation. There will be no reason to hurry, even if the court would become paralyzed.
The superficial reason that the Assembly has not selected the justice replacements yet is that ruling and opposition parties differ over how many of the three successors each party will recommend.
The Democratic Party argues that opposition parties that have formed a floor negotiation body by winning 20 or more seats should recommend two of them and that the ruling party should recommend one. In the current Assembly, the Democratic Party, holding 170 seats, is the only opposition party with the power of floor negotiation.
On the other hand, the position of the ruling People Power Party is to follow the custom: that the ruling and opposition parties each recommend one justice, and another by agreement.
The problem is that political confrontation is severe with about two weeks left to the day when the justices are set to retire. On the back of its large majority, the main opposition party maintains its position, while the minority ruling party is powerless. There are conspiracy theories that the opposition party may be smoothing the way to impeachment by paralyzing the court. It has vowed to impeach prosecutors and Yoon appointees who are unfavorable to it. Recently, a number of its lawmakers have agreed with civic groups demanding Yoon's impeachment.
Established in 1988, the Constitutional Court has represented an important standard on cases that can bring great changes to the lives of the people. It handles 230 cases a month on average, including constitutional petitions and impeachment trials. About 1,200 cases are said to be pending. Considering the schedule of confirmation hearings, it has become practically impossible to finish the appointment of the successors to the three justices of the court before they retire. Probably the best thing the Assembly can do is reduce as much as possible the period in which there are only six justices.
The conflict between the rival parties is deteriorating over personnel recommendations. During the plenary session of the Assembly on Sept. 26, the ruling party's choice of commissioner nominee for the National Human Rights Commission got rejected. Opposition party members voted it down. The opposition party's recommendation of another nominee for the commission passed in the Assembly. Most of the ruling party members approved it. Both parties are reported to have agreed to vote for each other's choices, but the agreement was upended when the individual lawmakers of the Democratic Party voted differently.
In the matter of the recommendation of candidates for high posts in state institutions such as the Constitutional Court and the National Human Rights Commission, the Constitution considers organizational balance important. Balance is maintained through a politically neutral appointment of people from diverse backgrounds. To this effect, the Constitution guarantees the Assembly the nomination right. The ruling and opposition parties have tried to follow the custom of equitable recommendation even when they were embroiled in serious political strife. If the custom is broken, normal administration of state affairs as well as parliamentary democracy will crumble.
