Parliament is set to hold a confirmation hearing for a former prosecutor nominated for the nation’s top court on April 7, after more than two months of political wrangling over the candidate’s alleged ethical misdeeds.

Park Sang-ok, who served as a public prosecutor, was nominated as a Supreme Court judge in January. But his confirmation hearing was put on hold for 76 days, with a group of opposition lawmakers refusing to hold the session, citing his role in the 1987 investigation of police officers accused of torturing a student activist to death.

The prosecution came under fire after a revelation by Catholic priests that there were more police officers involved in the torture than those it had indicted. The main opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy has claimed that the justice nominee was responsible for the cover-up and urged him to voluntarily withdraw his nomination.

The rival parties, however, reached an agreement to hold the hearing session after a meeting held between their floor leaders Tuesday. On Wednesday, members of a special parliamentary committee on personnel hearings finalized the date, although they continued to wage a war of nerves.

Lawmakers from the ruling party accused the opposition party of neglecting their duty, saying they have delayed the confirmation process and undermined the function of the judiciary. Meanwhile, NPAD lawmakers continued to label Park as a disqualified nominee and warned that they will press him to withdraw the nomination during the grilling session.

“We are not accepting his nomination just because we agreed to hold the confirmation hearing,” said Rep. Jeon Hae-cheol of NPAD.

The lawmaker warned that his party could boycott the session again if the prosecution and the court do not present a full investigation report and the court record of police officers involved in the torture of the student 28 years ago.

Rep. Lee Han-sung of the ruling Saenuri party vowed to cooperate with NPAD in securing the relevant documents, but criticized the opposition party for hastily jumping to the conclusion that Park, who was then a junior prosecutor, was disqualified because he was part of the investigation team at the time.

A bench in the 14-member Supreme Court has been left vacant since a justice retired last month. According to the law, the nomination of a judge to the top court requires parliament’s endorsement.

By Cho Chung-un (christory@heraldcorp.com)