President defends acting Constitutional Court chief

President Moon Jae-in faces growing protest from opposition parties over advocating Kim Yi-su, the acting chief of the Constitutional Court who has been challenged on ideological grounds.

The largest opposition Liberty Korea Party (LKP), joined by the smaller People’s Party and Bareun Party, criticized President Moon, Sunday, for “using Kim to have the Constitutional Court under his control.”

The criticism came after the President advocated on Facebook for Kim while accusing the opposition bloc of boycotting the national assembly audit of the Constitutional Court, Friday.

The opposition said it would not be appropriate for Kim to testify before the National Assembly, as Moon tapped Kim as the Constitutional Court president but failed to win approval in the National Assembly in September.

Moon then wrote on Facebook that the boycott against Kim is “against national order.” He did not comment on whether he plans to find a candidate to replace Kim.

“The acting chief of the Constitutional Court deserves respect as its head,” he wrote.

“It is against national order established by the National Assembly to refuse to listen to a briefing by Kim while calling him unjudicial.”

LKP spokeswoman Rep. Jun Hee-kyung fired back, saying, “It’s the President who turned the Constitutional Court into a distorted and senseless place.”

She asked Moon to nominate a candidate to replace Kim, claiming the President is deliberately delaying the nomination to keep the Constitutional Court under his control.