Chief Judge Kim Si-cheol of the High Court
Delivers Multiple Notable Rulings
Including Divorce and Reserved Portion Claims Cases
Attention is focused on Kim Si-cheol (59, Judicial Research and Training Institute class of 19, pictured), the presiding judge of the divorce lawsuit appeal trial. This is due to his ruling ordering the payment of the largest alimony and property division amount in history.
He is listed among the 55 candidates who have agreed to undergo verification as successors to the three Supreme Court justices whose terms expire on August 1.
What kind of rulings did he make?
Since February 2022, Chief Judge Kim has served as the presiding judge of the Family Division 2 at the Seoul High Court, delivering several notable rulings in divorce cases and claims for statutory reserved portions.
In June last year, the Family Division 2 ruled in a divorce lawsuit appeal that the at-fault spouse must pay 200 million won in alimony to the other party. At the time, the legal community regarded this as a highly unusual ruling, as alimony amounts rarely exceeded 30 million won.
The court stated, “The at-fault spouse, Mr. A, continuously received economic support from Mr. B while engaging in extramarital affairs with multiple women over a significant period, showing no respect for the sanctity of marriage and the monogamous system.” It added, “Compensation must be made to cover the damages incurred by Mr. B during this period.” This judgment was applied as is in the current divorce case.
In November last year, the court ruled that if one spouse contributed to the maintenance of stocks or other assets acquired solely in the other spouse’s name during the marriage, those assets should be subject to property division. In May of the same year, it was also ruled that if special circumstances justify ignorance of a will’s existence, the right to claim the statutory reserved portion can be exercised within one year after the confirmation of the will’s validity.
While serving as the presiding judge of the Administrative Division 9 at the Seoul High Court, Chief Judge Kim issued rulings such as requiring insurance companies to deduct from the taxable base if the reserve for liabilities was extinguished due to payment of insurance money for accidents like injury or illness, and declaring that the Ministry of Environment’s issuance of business suspension orders based on guidelines without legal grounds was unlawful.
Who is Kim Si-cheol?
Graduating from Gwangseong High School in Seoul and Seoul National University’s College of Law, Chief Judge Kim passed the 29th Judicial Examination in 1987. He began his career as a judge at the Seoul Criminal District Court, then served at the Seoul Civil District Court, Seoul Family Court, was the chief judge at Hongseong Branch of Daejeon District Court, a judicial research judge at the Supreme Court, a chief judge at Seoul Central District Court, and a senior professor at the Judicial Research and Training Institute.
He is well known as a judge who reaches conclusions based strictly on legal principles. In the first trial of the allegations of abuse of judicial administrative power involving former Chief Justice Yang Sung-tae, he appeared as a witness and refused to testify, stating, “The emails seized by the prosecution were collected illegally, and attempting to conduct witness examination based on them is unlawful.”
Meanwhile, Chief Judge Kim’s family spans three generations of legal professionals, including his father, older brother, and son. His father was the late lawyer Kim Dong-hwan, who made significant contributions to consumer rights protection. His son, Kim Jung-seok (passed the 12th Bar Exam), is a lawyer at the law firm Sejong. His older brother, Kim Si-hyun (63, class of 14), is also a lawyer, and Kim Si-hyun’s daughter, Kim Hyun-jung (passed the 9th Bar Exam), is a lawyer at Kim & Chang law firm.
It is known that Chief Judge Kim experienced the loss of his father and father-in-law during the process of presiding over this case. Notably, in January of this year, Kang Sang-wook, another member of the Family Division 2, suddenly passed away.
Han Su-hyun, Legal Times Reporter
※This article is based on content supplied by Law Times.
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