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Presidential office clarifies remarks on calls for Supreme Court chief justice resignation

Published: 15 Sep. 2025, 18:33 Updated: 16 Sep. 2025, 09:28

Presidential spokesperson Kang Yu-jung speaks at a press conference at the presidential office in Yongsan, central Seoul, on Sept. 15. [YONHAP]

Presidential spokesperson Kang Yu-jung said Monday that the presidential office does not have an official position on Democratic Party (DP) calls for Supreme Court Chief Justice Jo Hee-de to step down.

“We do not have a particular stance,” Kang told reporters in a morning briefing. “But as an appointed authority, [Jo] should reflect on the plausibility and reasoning of such demands, and in that respect, we are in very principle-based agreement.”

Kang’s remarks came in response to a question about whether the presidential office agreed with DP Rep. Choo Mi-ae, chair of the National Assembly’s Legislation and Judiciary Committee, who said Sunday that Jo should resign “for the sake of judicial independence.”

The liberal DP called for Jo’s resignation after the Supreme Court overturned then-presidential candidate Lee Jae Myung’s acquittal in May, a move the party denounced as politically motivated ahead of the June election.

Chief Justice Jo Hee-de returns to his seat after delivering commemorative remarks during the “Korean Court's Day” ceremony at the Supreme Court in Seocho District, Seoul, on Sept. 12. [YONHAP]

Kang’s comments were widely interpreted as signaling that the presidential office “agreed in principle” with Jo’s position. Media outlets published breaking news quoting her remarks.

About 50 minutes after the briefing, at 9:53 a.m., Kang issued a clarification to reporters. She said the presidential office’s stance was that the National Assembly should “deliberate and reflect the spirit of the Constitution and the will of the people,” and that if there was a public demand for Jo’s resignation, he should “reflect on the plausibility and reasoning of such demands as an appointed authority.”

Kang held a second briefing at 10:10 a.m. to again clarify her remarks. She accused media outlets of misinterpreting her comments.

“It is as if they cut out the front and back of my remarks and misunderstood the intent of the briefing,” Kang said. “I first said, ‘We do not have a particular stance,’ and what I said [afterward] should be seen as a principle-based explanation of the relationship between elected and appointed power.”

She stressed that her reference to “agreement in principle” was about respecting the separation of powers and elected authority.

Kang added that she was reiterating President Lee Jae Myung’s comments from his press conference last Thursday marking his first 100 days in office.

Lee said that the special tribunal for insurrection cases pushed by the ruling party should reflect “the will of the people as expressed through elected authority,” and that “unless it violates [the Constitution], we must respect the sovereign will of the people through the legislature.”

Presidential spokesperson Kang Yu-jung speaks at a press conference at the presidential office in Yongsan, central Seoul, on Sept. 15. [YONHAP]

Kang criticized the media for taking her words out of context.

“It is practically the same as excluding the front and back context of Korean sentences and quoting just one part,” she said. “To say that [the presidential office] agrees with the demand for [Jo’s resignation] is a misinterpretation and misreporting. I ask for a correction.”

Despite Kang’s claim that her words should not be controversial, the presidential office initially removed her phrase “in very principle-based agreement” from the official transcript of the briefing, which is kept as part of the presidential record. The transcript was later updated to restore the phrase following reporters’ protests.

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY YOON SUNG-MIN [[email protected]]