National Court Presidents' Conference Set for 12th... Response to Democratic Party's "Judicial Reform" to Be Discussed

Conference Presided Over by Cheon Daeyeop, Chief of the National Court Administration
"Legislation Pushed Forward Without Judicial Participation"
Democratic Party Promotes Judicial Reform Including "Increasing Supreme Court Justices" and "Improving Nomination Process"

The National Court Presidents' Conference will be held on the 12th. The meeting is expected to discuss how to respond to the judicial reform bill being promoted by the Democratic Party of Korea.

According to the legal community on September 5, Supreme Court Justice Cheon Daeyeop, who is the Chief of the National Court Administration, will preside over the National Court Presidents' Conference at the Supreme Court at 2 p.m. on the 12th. Typically, the conference is held twice a year, once between March and April and once between November and December. This upcoming meeting is an extraordinary session, not a regular one.

This meeting is a follow-up to Justice Cheon's request on September 1 for court presidents to gather opinions from judges regarding the judicial reform bill. At this meeting, the court presidents are expected to share the collected opinions of their respective judges.

Previously, on September 1, Justice Cheon posted a message titled "Remarks Regarding Judicial Reform Discussions" on the court presidents' community within the court's internal network (Courtnet), requesting feedback from court presidents nationwide and sharing the opinions that the National Court Administration had submitted to the Democratic Party's "Special Committee on People-Centered Judicial Reform."

This marks the first time the Supreme Court has officially outlined its position on the judicial reform bills being promoted by the Democratic Party's special committee, which aims to pass them at the plenary session before Chuseok. The bills include: ▲ increasing the number of Supreme Court justices (from 14 to 30), ▲ improving the nomination process for Supreme Court justices, ▲ reforming the judicial evaluation system, ▲ expanding the disclosure of lower court rulings, and ▲ introducing a pre-examination system for search and seizure warrants.

Regarding the increase in the number of Supreme Court justices, Justice Cheon stated, "A bill that excessively increases the number of Supreme Court justices raises serious concerns about weakening the fact-finding function, as it would require a large-scale concentration of judicial resources, such as research judges, at the Supreme Court."

Justice Cheon emphasized, "Legislation is being pushed forward rapidly without any official opportunity for the judiciary to participate. Despite efforts to point out and correct problems through various means, this extraordinary situation continues with an unprecedented legislative process."