Hoidae Cho: "I Respect the Legislative Activities of the National Assembly... Please Carefully Consider Whether There Is Any Harm to the Public"

Chief Justice Hoidae Cho on His Way to Work on the 3rd

"I Will Fulfill My Constitutional Duties...

Demonizing Judges Is Not Desirable"

With the so-called "Three Judicial Reform Bills" led by the Democratic Party of Korea having passed the National Assembly, Supreme Court Chief Justice Hoidae Cho stated on the 3rd, "I fully respect the legislative activities of the National Assembly," but earnestly appealed, "I sincerely ask you to carefully consider whether there is anything in these sudden reforms that could harm the public."

Chief Justice Cho Hee-dae is answering reporters' questions as he arrives at the Supreme Court in Seocho-gu, Seoul on the 3rd. Photo by Yonhap News Agency

On his way to the Supreme Court building that morning, Chief Justice Cho responded to reporters' questions regarding the Three Judicial Reform Bills, saying, "There is no perfect system in the world, and improvements should be made with consensus. In any case, I will fulfill my constitutional duties," expressing his views as above.

He added, "However, I earnestly ask the public to consider once more, until the very end, whether such a sudden and major change will truly benefit the people, or if there could be any aspects that might cause harm."

Chief Justice Cho also directly refuted certain arguments that cite low public trust in the judiciary as a reason for judicial reform. He explained, "According to a trust survey by Gallup Korea, public trust in the courts is 35% in the United States, whereas it is 47% in Korea. This does not mean we are superior, and we must continue to work to earn more trust, but since public trust reflects the expectations of the people, it is important to closely examine these objective indicators."

When asked about the delayed recommendation for the successor to Supreme Court Justice Taeak Noh, whose term ends today, and about plans to appoint a successor to Youngjae Park, the Court Administration Chief who recently expressed his intention to resign, Chief Justice Cho said, "I will discuss these matters going forward," refraining from further comment.

He went on to emphasize, "I ask the public to carefully consider that it is not desirable to disparage our system without cause or to demonize individual judges based on specific trials."

Previously, on February 28, the National Assembly passed an amendment to the Court Organization Act to increase the number of Supreme Court justices to 26. A day earlier, the National Assembly had passed an amendment to the Constitutional Court Act introducing a system for constitutional complaints, and before that, an amendment to the Criminal Act establishing a new crime of judicial distortion was also passed.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.