Lee Yongwoo: "No Constitutional or Legal Issues with Dedicated Panel Law"
Supreme Court Regulations Announced, Disregarding Legislative Authority and the People
The Legal Committee of the Democratic Party of Korea expressed its determination to move forward on December 18, stating that the Supreme Court’s establishment of new regulations for a dedicated panel to handle insurrection cases demonstrates that “the Supreme Court itself recognizes the necessity and legitimacy of a dedicated insurrection panel.”
Assemblyman Lee Yongwoo, head of the Democratic Party’s Legal Committee, issued a statement that afternoon regarding the “Regulations on the Establishment of Dedicated Panels and Trial Procedures for Nationally Significant Cases,” emphasizing, “With the enactment of these regulations, there is no longer any room to raise constitutional concerns about the law establishing a dedicated insurrection panel.”
Previously, the Supreme Court had decided through an administrative meeting of Supreme Court justices to establish regulations on the creation of dedicated panels and trial procedures for significant cases. The regulations stipulate that cases will be randomly assigned, but the panel that receives the case will be designated as the dedicated panel, and all cases previously handled by that panel will be reassigned. This is the core of the new rules.
Additionally, when assigning related cases to the dedicated panel, the assignment must be made in consultation with the relevant panels. Unless there are special circumstances, no new cases will be assigned to the dedicated panel.
Assemblyman Lee stated, “The Supreme Court’s enactment of these regulations clearly confirms that establishing a dedicated panel for crimes such as insurrection and treason poses no constitutional or legal issues whatsoever. In light of this, it is evident that the Supreme Court’s previous strong opposition to the establishment of a dedicated insurrection panel on constitutional grounds was misguided. There is no justification for delaying trials due to requests for constitutional review.”
However, the special law on the dedicated insurrection panel, for which the Democratic Party has reached a tentative conclusion, differs somewhat from the Supreme Court regulations. The special law includes the participation of the judges’ councils at each court level and the National Council of Judges’ Representatives in the panel recommendation committee, and stipulates that the panel’s composition will be entrusted to them.
Regarding this, Assemblyman Lee also stated, “According to the regulations, the panel that randomly receives an insurrection case is designated as the dedicated panel. If this is the case, multiple dedicated panels could be scattered across various courts, which would not only undermine the purpose of focused deliberation, swift case processing, and consistent handling of cases, but could also hinder the handling of other, non-nationally significant cases.” He further explained that the Supreme Court regulations lack provisions regarding exclusive jurisdiction, judges dedicated to warrants, trial broadcasting, and trial periods, making them less effective. Since these regulations are internal rules and lack binding force externally, he argued that it is appropriate to stipulate them by law.
Regarding the Supreme Court’s announcement of the regulations ahead of the National Assembly’s plenary session on the dedicated insurrection panel bill, Assemblyman Lee criticized, “The Supreme Court cannot avoid public criticism for having failed to take even these minimal measures until now, despite being able to handle major cases such as insurrection swiftly and fairly with just such regulations. This not only disregards the legislative authority of the National Assembly and, by extension, the people, but also clearly demonstrates the judiciary’s closed nature.”
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