National Judges' Representative Meeting: "Chief Judge Recommendations Must Respect Each Court's Recommendation Results"

On the 5th, the National Judges' Representative Meeting was held at the Judicial Research and Training Institute in Goyang-si, Gyeonggi-do.
[Photo by National Judges' Representative Meeting]

[Asia Economy Reporter Heo Kyung-jun] The National Judges' Representative Meeting (hereinafter referred to as the Representative Meeting) demanded that the opinions of frontline judges be reflected as much as possible regarding the 'Court Chief Candidate Recommendation System' promoted by Chief Justice Kim Myung-soo. However, the meeting did not discuss the continuation or abolition of the Court Chief Candidate Recommendation System.

The Representative Meeting held its regular meeting for the second half of 2022 on the 5th at the Judicial Research and Training Institute in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province, where it discussed the Court Chief Candidate Recommendation System.

The Representative Meeting resolved with 59 votes in favor, 26 against, and 6 abstentions that "the Chief Justice shall, in appointing court chiefs according to the Court Chief Candidate Recommendation System, respect the recommendation results of the recommendation committees of each court to the greatest extent possible, unless there are objective reasons such as prior misconduct, criminal or disciplinary procedures."

Originally, the draft included the principle of appointing the candidate with the highest votes, but during the discussion, it was revised to "respect the recommendation results to the greatest extent possible."

A Representative Meeting official explained, "There was an opinion that strictly following the election system could lead to excessive election fever, and that the personnel authority of the Chief Justice should also be respected, so the principle of appointing the candidate with the highest votes was deleted in the revised draft."

Additionally, a proposal stating that "since the senior deputy chief judge is in a more advantageous position than other candidates and the system could be distorted, the Chief Justice should take measures to resolve the issue" was also raised at the meeting but was rejected with 43 votes in favor, 44 against, and 6 abstentions.

The Court Chief Candidate Recommendation System was introduced by Chief Justice Kim to realize horizontal judicial administration and to establish a dual system for judicial personnel management. Next year, it will be expanded and implemented in 20 district courts nationwide.

Court chief candidates must have ▲ over 22 years of legal experience ▲ over 10 years of judicial service ▲ and be judges who have received recommendations from three or more judges among the chief judges of district courts. Recommended judges become court chief candidates, and the affiliated judges decide through voting. The candidate with the most votes does not automatically assume the court chief position; the Chief Justice refers to the voting results when appointing court chiefs. However, there have been many cases where judges with the most votes in the court chief candidate vote have become court chiefs.

On the other hand, criticism has been continuously raised within the judiciary that deciding court chief candidates through popularity votes is problematic. Also, since the court chief candidates elected by frontline judges do not automatically become court chiefs and the final decision authority lies with the Chief Justice, there have been concerns that this effectively strengthens the Chief Justice's autocratic power.

In fact, at the Seoul Central District Court, which will introduce the Court Chief Candidate Recommendation System for the first time next year, controversy arose as Song Kyung-geun, the senior civil deputy chief judge known to be close to Chief Justice Kim, and Ban Jeong-woo, the former secretary to Chief Justice Kim, were included in the candidate pool. Senior Deputy Judge Song is known to belong to the 'International Human Rights Law Research Association,' whose first chairman was Chief Justice Kim.