ID :
205443
Tue, 09/06/2011 - 08:47
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/205443
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Chief Justice-appointee faces questioning over conservative rulings
SEOUL, Sept. 6 (Yonhap) -- The National Assembly held a confirmation hearing for the nominee for South Korea's Supreme Court chief justice Tuesday as opposition lawmakers raised concerns that some of his past rulings were too conservative.
Former Supreme Court Justice Yang Sung-tae, 63, was nominated last month as head of the top court. If approved by the National Assembly, Yang will succeed Lee Yong-hoon whose six-year term is set to expire later this month.
"I will listen to different opinions and fix problems. However, making a drastic change to the judiciary is neither appropriate nor fits into the nature of the judiciary," Yang said during the hearing when asked how he would lead the 14-member bench if he takes office.
Liberal lawmakers have raised concern about Yang's ideological stance, saying the highest court could turn more conservative under his helm. Rep. Kim Jin-pyo, floor leader of the main opposition Democratic Party, said earlier in the day that Yang stands "contrary to the flow of the times."
When Yang served as a Supreme Court justice from 2005 to earlier this year, some of his rulings raised the ire of liberal groups, such as last year's overturning of a not-guilty verdict for a group of temporary workers accused of holding an illegal protest.
Yang also sentenced heavy prison terms to protesters in a 2009 deadly clash between riot police and residents opposed to a redevelopment project in Seoul's Yongsan area. Five protesters and one policeman were killed in the clash where police were accused of excessive measures to break up the protest.
In July of last year, Yang handed down a ruling that outlawed a progressive civic group as an anti-state organization for its activities that promoted pro-Pyongyang propaganda and campaigns. The group, established in honor of the first inter-Korean summit in 2000, called for the withdrawal of the 28,500 U.S. troops stationed against the communist state.
Regarding the death penalty, Yang said in a written statement submitted to the parliament that he agrees in principle on abolishing capital punishment but believes that it is premature for South Korea to go without it.
South Korean courts still hand down verdicts calling for the death penalty, but the country has not carried out an execution since February 1998 when Kim Dae-jung, a long-time dissident who was himself sentenced to death in 1980 but later pardoned, became president.
The parliamentary hearing will last until Wednesday with a vote on the confirmation of the chief justice-designate scheduled to be held at a plenary session of the National Assembly on Friday.
Former Supreme Court Justice Yang Sung-tae, 63, was nominated last month as head of the top court. If approved by the National Assembly, Yang will succeed Lee Yong-hoon whose six-year term is set to expire later this month.
"I will listen to different opinions and fix problems. However, making a drastic change to the judiciary is neither appropriate nor fits into the nature of the judiciary," Yang said during the hearing when asked how he would lead the 14-member bench if he takes office.
Liberal lawmakers have raised concern about Yang's ideological stance, saying the highest court could turn more conservative under his helm. Rep. Kim Jin-pyo, floor leader of the main opposition Democratic Party, said earlier in the day that Yang stands "contrary to the flow of the times."
When Yang served as a Supreme Court justice from 2005 to earlier this year, some of his rulings raised the ire of liberal groups, such as last year's overturning of a not-guilty verdict for a group of temporary workers accused of holding an illegal protest.
Yang also sentenced heavy prison terms to protesters in a 2009 deadly clash between riot police and residents opposed to a redevelopment project in Seoul's Yongsan area. Five protesters and one policeman were killed in the clash where police were accused of excessive measures to break up the protest.
In July of last year, Yang handed down a ruling that outlawed a progressive civic group as an anti-state organization for its activities that promoted pro-Pyongyang propaganda and campaigns. The group, established in honor of the first inter-Korean summit in 2000, called for the withdrawal of the 28,500 U.S. troops stationed against the communist state.
Regarding the death penalty, Yang said in a written statement submitted to the parliament that he agrees in principle on abolishing capital punishment but believes that it is premature for South Korea to go without it.
South Korean courts still hand down verdicts calling for the death penalty, but the country has not carried out an execution since February 1998 when Kim Dae-jung, a long-time dissident who was himself sentenced to death in 1980 but later pardoned, became president.
The parliamentary hearing will last until Wednesday with a vote on the confirmation of the chief justice-designate scheduled to be held at a plenary session of the National Assembly on Friday.
