Ruling Party Halts Attacks on Chief Justice After His Father’s Death

A dispute between South Korea’s ruling camp and the Supreme Court has temporarily fallen quiet after Chief Justice Cho Hee-dae suffered a bereavement. The ruling camp halted its public attacks, and a parliamentary committee session planned to question Supreme Court officials was canceled.

The Supreme Court said on the 31st that Cho’s father, Cho Bu-hwan, had died the previous day at the age of 93. Cho did not go to work and instead stayed at a funeral hall in a hospital in Pohang, North Gyeongsang Province.

The court said Cho wanted to hold a quiet funeral with his family and politely declined visits from outside mourners. Even so, the presidential office sent Kang Hoon-sik, the presidential chief of staff, to pay respects and convey President Lee Jae Myung’s condolences.

The visit marked the first public meeting between Cho and a presidential office official since the office asked him on the 28th of the previous month to renominate a candidate for Supreme Court justice. Cho had nominated Son Bong-ki to replace former Justice Noh Tae-ak. The condolence visit therefore came as the dispute over the nomination briefly receded from public view.

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Chief Justice Cho Hee-dae wants to hold a quiet funeral with his family and respectfully declines outside mourners.