"Appointment of Non-Lawyers as Supreme Court Justices Should Be Reconsidered"
Chief Justice Choi Hee-dae of the Supreme Court and other justices entered the Supreme Court courtroom in Seocho-gu, Seoul, on the afternoon of the 1st for the plenary session ruling on the public official election law case involving Lee Jae-myung, the presidential candidate of the Democratic Party of Korea. 2025.05.01 Photo by Joint Press Corps
The Korean Bar Association has expressed support for the Democratic Party of Korea's initiative to increase the number of Supreme Court justices, but emphasized that careful deliberation is necessary.
On the 23rd, the association issued a statement titled "Agreeing on the Need for Judicial Reform, Including Increasing the Number of Supreme Court Justices, but Calling for Careful Review and Discussion of the Method." The association stated, "The current reality, in which each Supreme Court justice must handle approximately 3,000 cases per year, makes thorough deliberation impossible, so increasing the number of justices is an urgent task." The association added, "Increasing the number of justices is the most practical and direct way to alleviate the bottleneck in the appellate review system and to substantially guarantee the right to a fair trial."
The association further explained that, under the current structure where each justice must review thousands of cases annually, it is difficult to ensure sufficient deliberation and thorough examination. By increasing the number of justices and distributing the workload, legal reasoning and arguments can be developed more deeply, thereby providing stronger protection for the right to a fair trial.
Additionally, the Korean Bar Association stated, "Measures that artificially control the number of cases, such as the existing leave-to-appeal system or the establishment of an appellate division within the High Court, or those that create new bureaucratic layers, risk distorting the function of the Supreme Court and may encourage preferential treatment for former judges."
However, the association expressed opposition to the bill being promoted by Park Beomgye, the Democratic Party secretary of the National Assembly Legislation and Judiciary Committee, which seeks to ease the qualification requirements for Supreme Court justices to include non-lawyers. The association stated, "Allowing the appointment of non-lawyers without legal experience as Supreme Court justices could undermine the essential function of the Supreme Court as a court of law," and added, "The proposal to appoint non-lawyers as justices should be reconsidered and subjected to careful review and discussion."
The association further emphasized, "Appointing non-lawyers as Supreme Court justices jeopardizes the very function of the Supreme Court as a court of law. Unified legal interpretation and the establishment of legal standards are premised on long-term practical experience and specialized legal training. If individuals who cannot play a substantive role in the process of rigorous debate between majority and dissenting opinions are present, the authority and consistency of Supreme Court rulings could be undermined, thereby damaging public trust in the judiciary."
The Korean Bar Association also stated that it is necessary to: ▲ establish support systems such as expanding the number of Supreme Court research judges and advancing case classification systems to structurally reduce the burden on the Supreme Court, ▲ increase the number of lower court judges to improve the quality of lower court trials, ▲ introduce the discovery system (which compels companies to share exclusive information with plaintiffs) and secure funding, and ▲ enhance transparency throughout the entire Supreme Court justice appointment process.
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