South Korea-American beef trial takes a sinister turn..

Regional Court justice calls on Supreme Court justice to resign

Opposition parties plan to push for impeachment as new allegations that the judge tried to influence other trials arise

over allegations that he attempted to influence the candlelight protest trials, despite mounting calls for his resignation, Supreme Court Justice Shin Young-chul is facing new allegations that he tried to intervene in other politically-sensitive court trials in the past. And in another development, a regional court judge called on Shin to step down.

Justice Kim Hyeong-yeon of the South District Branch of the Seoul Regional Court posted an article on the court’s Intranet system on Sunday, in which he said that even though Shin may feel victimized, his behavior could affect the judiciary’s authority and put it at the center of political debate.

Opposition party lawmakers have also stepped up their demands for Shin’s resignation, and are planning to push for his impeachment if an ongoing investigation by the Supreme Court is deemed to be insufficient.

Noh Young-min, a spokesman for the Democratic Party, said, "The more Shin delays his decision to step down, the more damage there will be to the judiciary. We have no choice but to push to impeach him if the court fails to get to the bottom of the allegations."

Woo Wi-yeong, a spokesman for the Democratic Labor Party, said that it is "deplorable" for the court to succumb to the government and even try to curry favor with it. "If Shin doesn’t resign voluntarily, we will have no choice but to push for his impeachment," he said. Impeachment can be initiated when a third of the nation’s lawmakers support it.

The Supreme Court’s fact-finding committee launched an investigation into the allegations against Shin over the weekend, conducting one-on-one interviews with around 20 judges who reportedly received e-mails from Shin last October and November. In the e-mails, Shin allegedly asked the judges to speed up trial proceedings involving people who participated in candlelight protests against U.S. beef imports earlier in the year. Investigators also asked the judges how they felt when they received the e-mails, what they did after receiving them and whether they might have received additional e-mails from the justice.

Meanwhile, around 30 people from a civic group consisting of 980 people who were involved in the demonstrations met yesterday in Seoul and adopted a statement condemning Shin for illegally intervening in the trials. They demanded that he take responsibility for his actions and step down immediately and requested that the court conduct fair trials.

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