The Democratic Party Recommends Lawyer Jo Han-chang as Constitutional Court Justice

The 9-Member Constitutional Court Justice System Is Imminent

Yonhap News

The People Power Party is reportedly set to recommend lawyer Jo Han-chang (59, Judicial Research and Training Institute class 18) as the ruling party's candidate for Constitutional Court Justice.

According to political circles on the 6th, the People Power Party recently completed the procedure to recommend Jo as the ruling party's candidate for Constitutional Court Justice.

Lawyer Jo, originally from Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, graduated from Sangmun High School and Seoul National University Law School. He was appointed as a judge at the Busan District Court Eastern Branch in 1992 and has served as a Supreme Court judicial researcher, acting chief presiding judge of the Seoul Administrative Court, and worked in the administrative and tax divisions of the Seoul High Court.

Earlier, the Democratic Party of Korea reportedly decided to recommend Jung Gye-seon (55, class 27), Chief Judge of the Seoul Western District Court, and Ma Eun-hyuk (61, class 29), presiding judge of the Seoul Western District Court, as candidates for Constitutional Court Justice.

The Constitutional Court consists of nine justices: three appointed by the President, three nominated by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, and three recommended by the National Assembly. In October, three justices recommended by the National Assembly (former Constitutional Court Chief Justice Lee Jong-seok and former justices Lee Young-jin and Kim Ki-young) retired, but the process to select their successors has not yet proceeded.

Under the six-justice system, impeachment trials are impossible. Article 113 of the Constitution requires the approval of six justices for an impeachment decision. To hear a case, Article 23, Paragraph 1 of the Constitutional Court Act requires the attendance of at least seven justices.