Chief Judges Convene Nationwide Meeting to Gather Judges' Opinions on 'Judicial Reform'

Extraordinary Session Held for the First Time in Three Years...
Meeting Expected to Continue Late into the Evening
Discussion on Five Key Judicial Reform Agendas, Including Increasing the Number of Supreme Court Justices

A meeting of chief judges from courts nationwide was held on September 12 to discuss the 'judicial reform' agenda being promoted by the government and the Democratic Party of Korea.

Yonhap News

The Supreme Court convened an extraordinary meeting of chief judges from across the country at 2 p.m. that day in the main conference room of its Seocho-dong headquarters, presided over by Cheon Daeyeop, Chief of the National Court Administration (Supreme Court Justice).

This meeting was a follow-up to Cheon’s request on September 1 for chief judges to gather opinions from their respective judges regarding the Democratic Party’s judicial reform proposal.

The topics under discussion included the following initiatives being pushed by the Democratic Party’s Special Committee on Judicial Reform, with the goal of passing them in a plenary session before Chuseok: ▲ increasing the number of Supreme Court justices ▲ improving the process for nominating Supreme Court justices ▲ reforming the judicial evaluation system ▲ expanding the scope of public access to lower court rulings ▲ introducing a pre-hearing system for search and seizure warrants.

Chief judges are expected to share the opinions of their respective judges on these issues and discuss the judiciary’s response at the institutional level, so the meeting is likely to continue late into the night.

Previously, on September 1, Cheon shared the opinions submitted by the National Court Administration to the Democratic Party’s special committee via the court’s internal network and expressed concerns about judicial reform legislation being pushed forward without the participation of the judiciary. Cheon stressed, “Legislation is being expedited without any official opportunity for the judiciary to participate,” and added, “Despite our efforts to address this, this extraordinary situation of unusual procedures continues.”

The chief judges’ meeting, where the highest-ranking judges gather to discuss major issues facing the judiciary, is usually held as a regular meeting twice a year, in March or April and December. However, this time, it was convened as an extraordinary session. This is the first extraordinary meeting of chief judges since 2022, when the topic was COVID-19 response measures.

There is also a possibility that an official opinion on the 'Special Court for Insurrection' being promoted by the Democratic Party may be issued at this meeting. The legal community has raised concerns that the Special Court for Insurrection could undermine judicial independence and may be unconstitutional.

However, the President, in a press conference marking his 100th day in office the previous day, expressed support for the ruling party regarding the introduction of the Special Court for Insurrection, saying, “Some say it is unconstitutional, but I do not see how it is unconstitutional,” and emphasized, “The will of the people’s sovereignty is most important.”