Personnel Costs Alone Reach 28.7 Billion Won Over 5 Years
Court Building and Judicial Research Officer Expenses Not Included
Actual Costs Could Reach Hundreds of Billions
Cases Per Justice Projected to Drop by 57%
Additional Secretary and Space Expansion Costs Not Accounted For
The National Assembly Budget Office has released an official estimate stating that if the Democratic Party of Korea's plan to increase the number of Supreme Court justices-a key initiative in its "judicial reform" agenda-becomes a reality, approximately 28.7 billion won will be required over the next five years.
This figure does not include major items such as the cost of expanding court buildings or hiring additional judicial research officers. Since even personnel and operating expenses alone would amount to several billion won, concerns have been raised that increasing the number of Supreme Court justices could result in a "fiscal bomb."
According to the cost estimation report from the National Assembly Budget Office, which reflects the amendment to the Court Organization Act proposed by Democratic Party lawmaker Lee Yongwoo, if the number of Supreme Court justices is increased from the current 14 to 30, and if the number of Supreme Court secretaries and non-lawyer candidates for the National Assembly’s nomination committee is increased by 16 and 4, respectively, an additional 28,694 million won will be needed over five years-an average of about 5,739 million won per year.
The Budget Office explained that this estimate is limited to "calculable items" such as salaries, institutional contributions, basic expenses, asset acquisition costs, and vehicle rental fees. Costs that are unavoidable in the process of increasing the number of justices-such as hiring additional judicial research officers, expanding court buildings, and rearranging offices-were excluded because they are "difficult to reasonably estimate."
The National Assembly Budget Office's "Cost Estimation Report on the Partial Amendment to the Court Organization Act" states that it is "difficult to reasonably predict" the scale of increasing judicial research officers following the expansion of Supreme Court justices.
Previously, the Court Administration Office presented data stating that if the number of Supreme Court justices increases, the number of judicial research officers and other staff would also need to increase, making the construction of a new Supreme Court building inevitable. In this case, 1.4 trillion to 1.7 trillion won would be required. Even though the Budget Office’s estimate is much more limited in scope, personnel costs alone would reach 28.7 billion won over five years, suggesting that the actual costs could be much higher.
The Budget Office also projected that the number of cases handled per Supreme Court justice would decrease from 3,305 to 1,417 per year, a reduction of about 57%. This issue is also scheduled to be discussed at the National Judges’ Representatives Meeting to be held at 7 p.m. today (September 25). Prior to the meeting, the subcommittee shared a report on the court’s internal network (CourtNet) on September 22, stating that "the plan to increase the number of Supreme Court justices, with the legislative intent of 'enhancing the thoroughness of appellate review,' has many points worth considering." However, the report also noted, "There is a need for self-reflection on whether citizens’ rights have been adequately protected and whether the judiciary has delivered verdicts that have earned the public’s trust." The results of the discussion are scheduled to be released on September 26.
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