[Asia Economy Reporter Seongpil Cho] On the 27th, the Supreme Court expressed the position that the amendment to the Court Organization Act, which sets the minimum legal career required to apply for a judge position at 5 years, is an "improvement in line with the purpose of judicial reform."
In the explanatory materials distributed by the Supreme Court's Judicial Administration Office on the same day, it stated, "The Judicial Reform Promotion Committee in 1999 and the Judicial Reform Committee from 2003 to 2004 recommended the introduction of unified legal profession and suggested that the legal career requirement for judge appointments be '5 years or more'." It also emphasized, "This amendment to the Court Organization Act cannot be considered a regression in judicial reform but is an institutional improvement to realistically establish unified legal profession."
According to the current Court Organization Act, the minimum legal career required to become a judge is 5 years until this year, but it will increase to 7 years from next year and 10 years from 2026. Regarding this, opinions are divided between those who argue that the legal career requirement should be lowered to ensure a smooth supply of judges and those who oppose, claiming that relaxing the legal career requirement is a regression in judicial reform. In this situation, the amendment to maintain the legal career requirement for judge applicants at "5 years or more" passed the Legislation and Judiciary Committee's bill subcommittee on the 15th.
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