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President Lee Jae-myung poses for a commemorative photo after conferring an honor on former Supreme Court Justice Lee Heung-koo at the Blue House on the 21st. Supreme Court Chief Justice Cho Hee-dae is on the left. / Courtesy of the Blue House

President Lee Jae-myung presented a letter of appointment to new Supreme Court Justice Kim Seong-soo on the 21st and subsequently held a tea meeting with Supreme Court Chief Justice Cho Hee-dae. This marks the first face-to-face encounter between President Lee and Chief Justice Cho since the Blue House requested a re-nomination for another Supreme Court justice candidate.

Kang Yu-jung, senior Blue House spokesperson, said in a press notice that "President Lee presented a letter of appointment to new Justice Kim and conferred an honor on former Justice Lee Heung-koo at the main reception hall of the Blue House at 10 a.m."

Following the ceremony, President Lee held a tea meeting with Chief Justice Cho, former Justice Lee, and new Justice Kim. Whether the issue of the re-nomination was discussed during the meeting has not been disclosed.

The encounter took place amid differences between the Blue House and the Supreme Court over the nomination of Supreme Court justice candidates.

On the 18th of last month, Chief Justice Cho simultaneously recommended to President Lee that Senior Judge Son Bong-gi of the Daegu District Court succeed former Justice Noh Tae-ak, and that Kim Seong-soo, then a senior judge at the Seoul High Court, succeed former Justice Lee Heung-koo.

While the Blue House moved forward with the parliamentary confirmation process for candidate Kim, it withheld the submission of a motion for consent to candidate Son's appointment, stating that the written nomination had been made without substantive prior consultation. It subsequently asked Chief Justice Cho on the 28th of last month to make a fresh recommendation.

Chief Justice Cho has not issued a separate official stance for more than three weeks following the request for re-nomination. Legal circles remain divided over whether he can re-nominate from among the existing candidates recommended by the Supreme Court Justice Candidate Recommendation Committee, or whether an entirely new recommendation procedure must be initiated.

Meanwhile, new Justice Kim, nominated to succeed former Justice Lee, underwent a National Assembly confirmation hearing and parliamentary approval, and President Lee endorsed his appointment on the 18th.

                                                                                                        Park Young-hoon