Yeouido Checkpoint: The DMZ Gate Kang Shin-cheol Is Hiding

The question was raised whether the position of chief justice is one that requires political sense. Along with the assessment that Chief Justice Cho Hee-dae's political sense is better than President Lee Jae-myung's, the point was made that, in keeping with the purpose of guaranteeing judicial independence, a chief justice should not be swept up in political judgments and should decide according to legal reasoning and conscience. Kang Shin-cheol, however, raised the question of whether the position of chief justice is really one that requires political sense.

The point is that, in keeping with the purpose of guaranteeing judicial independence, the chief justice should not be swept up in political judgments and should decide according to legal reasoning and conscience.

Kang Shin-cheol offered the interpretation that a jurisdictional dispute ruling means 'let's go and argue it out,' and that saying it will not do so shows the Blue House knew that even taking it to a left-leaning Constitutional Court would end in defeat, so it backed down.

Kim Min-seok brought up impeaching Cho Hee-dae whenever he opened his mouth. But now, looking at the approval ratings, it seems they realized that if they wrongly raised impeachment, they themselves could be impeached, so they put down the sword.

Still, because they had to do something, they settled for holding a protest rally in front of the Supreme Court instead, according to the assessment.

The Blue House's claim of procedural defects is hard to accept. He criticized candidate Son Bong-gi, but did not write any grounds.

If you really do not want to reappoint him, state your grounds; he demanded to know why Son Bong-gi is unsatisfactory. The assessment is that there are no grounds, but in reality the reason is that they want to appoint a leftist figure from Our Law Research Society, and that cannot be written down.

President Lee Jae-myung has two paths he can choose. The first is to go with one vacancy and simply hold out, since Chief Justice Cho Hee-dae did not recommend him and he will not request the appointment.

The second path, if he wants to replace Son Bong-gi with someone else, is to send Son Bong-gi to the National Assembly and have him voted down.

He explained that among judges, the chief justice is perceived as above the president of the Constitutional Court, and that in personnel matters there is also a perception that Supreme Court justices rank above Constitutional Court justices.

Although it appears to be an independent institution under the law, among judges the chief justice is perceived as above the Constitutional Court president. Apart from rank and protocol, he said there is also a perception in personnel matters that Supreme Court justices rank above Constitutional Court justices.

Would the Constitutional Court be able to make a decision that infringes on the chief justice's authority? No one thinks so, but only Lee Jae-myung sees it that way. He predicted that his broken political sense will lead him down a path of self-destruction.

The people want it enormously. He urged him not to agonize, not to be bound by small things, and not to be afraid. He described that path as a historic duty to set South Korea's judicial justice right.

He said he must feel reflection and bitter regret that the result of not issuing a remand for final judgment and only following principles just before the last presidential election is shaking the judicial system. He predicted that he will likely have to show something more going forward.

I hope this reaches Chief Justice Cho Hee-dae.

This incident is not something to let pass. It amounts to nothing less than the state telling soldiers to go die. A battalion commander does not normally take part in searches. That means there was something wrong from the start, not just a restraint issue, which is why the battalion commander was deployed to the search operation, and suspicions are even being raised that some kind of North Korean movement was behind the battalion commander being injured.

I do not know whether the Minister of National Defense had any wisdom or not, but saying he will verify it cannot help but be seen as more than speaking like a double agent — it is an act of siding with some North Korean provocation.

Because it is an incident that occurred in the military, the military ends matters by saying it cannot disclose things it does not want to announce for security reasons. But a few years ago, a North Korean soldier defected through Panmunjom. Then North Korean troops chased him and shot him several times, and Professor Yi Guk-jeong saved him when he was near death.

Even though that was the most sensitive military border area, the entire nation watched that video for days, and every media outlet showed it. Military operations can be secret before they begin, but once an incident has already occurred, why should it be secret? Only if it is disclosed as quickly as possible will the people have trust in the military. The military does not survive on good equipment and high salaries; it survives on the people's trust and love.

He criticized that 'the military leadership of the Lee Jae-myung administration is shaking public trust from the roots.' As remarks about a former defense industry worker becoming minister and about demolition eviction squads coming out and doing something circulate, the people come to distrust the military leadership.

He demanded that the landmine incident also be investigated quickly and disclosed quickly and transparently. He drew the line that he was not asking for military secrets to be disclosed. What takes so much time in an investigation? The military leadership must know.

He pointed out that it is rare for a battalion commander to go out on front-line searches. He reasoned that this proves the search deployment was an extraordinary situation, and that the battalion commander must have gone out personally because a very extraordinary situation occurred. It is rare for a battalion commander to go out on front-line searches. He reasoned that the battalion commander must have gone out personally because a very extraordinary situation occurred.

If they are our side's landmines, the military manages the burial locations and numbers with a landmine map. The battalion commander's unit that was dispatched knows the landmine map. How likely is it that they would step on a landmine planted by our own military? He concluded there was no chance.

He summarized that because the landmine suddenly exploded after being stepped on, it was either planted by North Korea or a North Korean landmine washed down by rainwater — one of the two. If many citizens suspect it, they should quickly tell them so, so why drag it out?

I want to strongly point out why the military is bringing public distrust upon itself.

An additional accident resulted in an amputation at the ankle. The precondition for being treated as heroes is a clear definition: 'It is a North Korean provocation, it happened because of North Korea.'

He called the Minister of National Defense 'that guy' and criticized the response saying, 'There is no video, so it cannot yet be confirmed.' The president, in a foreign media interview, spoke of 'sanctions on North Korea have no effect, let's ease them' without mentioning or condemning this issue. That led to 'Who on earth could send their sons to the military with peace of mind?'

We entrust the safety of South Korea's territory and people to our military.

Among that military, we entrust the lives and property of young people stationed especially in the DMZ and front-line areas, and while they should be working with the people's trust and confidence, families have been put in a situation of worry.

He began with concern about what kind of incident might occur during the week-long overseas tour. Regarding U.S. investment, he worried that they might pledge an amount they cannot handle and then just agree, promise, and return.

He argued that if it were not for Lee Jae-myung in the first place, there would have been no reason to make a loss-making investment for the United States. Above all, he concluded that he is worried about South Korea's security.

There are two identical surveys released today. One was conducted on the 20th and 21st, and the other on the 20th and 22nd. Both were conducted after the press conference and after Kim Seung-won's resignation, and both are record lows.

CNI regularly conducts its own surveys, and it fell further from the previous survey two weeks earlier to 37%. Yeoronjosa Gongjeong also fell to 32.9%, the lowest in its own survey records.

He concluded that even if Realmeter struggles and Chosun Ilbo puts a headline saying 'this is the public sentiment,' it will fall further. When told that it takes about one to two weeks for bad news to be reflected in polls, he responded, 'A time lag is needed.'

After the self-destructive bad news of Lee Jae-myung's press conference, additional suspicions are erupting more seriously after Kim Seung-won's resignation. The belated response to the landmine explosion incident has continued since then. He predicted that these will be reflected in some form in next week's polls through Chuseok public sentiment. He predicted that at least one of the polling companies next week will show approval in the 20% range.