The Supreme Court of Korea () is the
highest ordinary court in the
judicial branch
The judiciary (also known as the judicial system, judicature, judicial branch, judiciative branch, and court or judiciary system) is the system of courts that adjudicates legal disputes/disagreements and interprets, defends, and applies the law ...
of
South Korea
South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...
, seated in
Seocho
Seocho District () is one of the 25 '' gu'' (local government districts) which make up the city of Seoul, South Korea. Seocho is generally referred to as a part of Greater Gangnam Area, along with Gangnam District. As of 2022, Seocho District ra ...
,
Seoul
Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 ...
. Established under Chapter 5 of the
Constitution of South Korea
The Constitution of the Republic of Korea () is the supreme law of South Korea. It was promulgated on July 17, 1948, and last revised on October 29, 1987.
Background The Provisional Charter of Korea
The preamble of the Constitution of South ...
, the Court has ultimate and comprehensive jurisdiction over all cases except those cases falling under the
jurisdiction
Jurisdiction (from Latin 'law' + 'declaration') is the legal term for the legal authority granted to a legal entity to enact justice. In federations like the United States, areas of jurisdiction apply to local, state, and federal levels.
Jur ...
of the
Constitutional Court of Korea
The Constitutional Court of Korea () is highest constitutional court in judicial branch of South Korea, seated in Jongno, Seoul. Established under Chapter 6 of the Constitution of South Korea, the Court has ultimate jurisdiction over judicial ...
. It consists of fourteen Justices, including the
Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Korea
The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Korea () is the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Korea. As presiding judge of Grand bench composed of two-thirds of fourteen Supreme Court Justices, the Chief represents the Supreme Court of Korea. ...
. The Supreme Court is at the top of the hierarchy of all ordinary courts in South Korea, and traditionally represented the conventional judiciary of South Korea. The Supreme Court has equivalent status as one of the two highest courts in South Korea. The other is the
Constitutional Court of Korea
The Constitutional Court of Korea () is highest constitutional court in judicial branch of South Korea, seated in Jongno, Seoul. Established under Chapter 6 of the Constitution of South Korea, the Court has ultimate jurisdiction over judicial ...
.
History and Status
The first Constitution of South Korea established 'Supreme Court' and 'Constitutional Committee' ( ko, 헌법위원회) in Chapter 5. The Supreme Court was established as highest ordinary court without power of
judicial review
Judicial review is a process under which executive, legislative and administrative actions are subject to review by the judiciary. A court with authority for judicial review may invalidate laws, acts and governmental actions that are incompat ...
, while the committee was established as
constitutional court
A constitutional court is a high court that deals primarily with constitutional law. Its main authority is to rule on whether laws that are challenged are in fact unconstitutional, i.e. whether they conflict with constitutionally established ...
with power of
judicial review
Judicial review is a process under which executive, legislative and administrative actions are subject to review by the judiciary. A court with authority for judicial review may invalidate laws, acts and governmental actions that are incompat ...
. This distribution of judicial power inside judiciary did not change under rule of South Korea's first
president
President most commonly refers to:
*President (corporate title)
*President (education), a leader of a college or university
*President (government title)
President may also refer to:
Automobiles
* Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...
Syngman Rhee
Syngman Rhee (, ; 26 March 1875 – 19 July 1965) was a South Korean politician who served as the first president of South Korea from 1948 to 1960.
Rhee was also the first and last president of the Provisional Government of the Republic of Ko ...
during
First Republic. Later, fourth and fifth Constitution of Korea in the
Second Republic of Korea
The second Republic of Korea was the government of South Korea from April 1960 to May 1961.
The Second republic was founded during the April Revolution mass protests against President Syngman Rhee, succeeding the First republic and establishing ...
during year 1960 kept the Supreme Court as highest ordinary court without power of judicial review. Though the Supreme Court had no power of judicial review, it was able to thrive
judicial independence Judicial independence is the concept that the judiciary should be independent from the other branches of government. That is, courts should not be subject to improper influence from the other branches of government or from private or partisan inte ...
under legendary first
Chief Justice of the Supreme Court named 'Kim Byung-ro' ( ko, 김병로) from 1948 to 1957. Renowned for ardent participation in
Korean independence movement
The Korean independence movement was a military and diplomatic campaign to achieve the independence of Korea from Japan. After the Japanese annexation of Korea in 1910, Korea's domestic resistance peaked in the March 1st Movement of 1919, which ...
from colonization of Japan, Chief Justice Kim Byung-ro is also famous for defending independence of judicial powers from
Syngman Rhee
Syngman Rhee (, ; 26 March 1875 – 19 July 1965) was a South Korean politician who served as the first president of South Korea from 1948 to 1960.
Rhee was also the first and last president of the Provisional Government of the Republic of Ko ...
's dictatorship.
However, after Kim Byung-ro's retirement in 1957, the Supreme Court adapted itself under authoritarian dictatorships of
Syngman Rhee
Syngman Rhee (, ; 26 March 1875 – 19 July 1965) was a South Korean politician who served as the first president of South Korea from 1948 to 1960.
Rhee was also the first and last president of the Provisional Government of the Republic of Ko ...
and
Park Chung-hee
Park Chung-hee (, ; 14 November 1917 – 26 October 1979) was a South Korean politician and army general who served as the dictator of South Korea from 1961 until his assassination in 1979; ruling as an unelected military strongman from 1961 ...
. By sentencing death on
Syngman Rhee
Syngman Rhee (, ; 26 March 1875 – 19 July 1965) was a South Korean politician who served as the first president of South Korea from 1948 to 1960.
Rhee was also the first and last president of the Provisional Government of the Republic of Ko ...
's political contender
Cho Bong-am
Cho Bong-am (, 25 September 1898 – 31 July 1959) was a South Korean independence activist and politician, who ran for president in the South Korean presidential election in 1956. He was a founding member of the Communist Party of Korea (조 ...
in 1959 and also by sentencing death on defendants of
People's Revolutionary Party Incident
The People's Revolutionary Party Incidents were legal cases in which the South Korean government accused individuals of socialist inclinations according to the Anti-communism Law in 1965 (the First Incident) and National Security Law in 1975 (t ...
in 1975 under
Park Chung-hee
Park Chung-hee (, ; 14 November 1917 – 26 October 1979) was a South Korean politician and army general who served as the dictator of South Korea from 1961 until his assassination in 1979; ruling as an unelected military strongman from 1961 ...
's era, the Supreme Court gained notorious reputation for ''
judicial murder
Judicial murder is the intentional and premeditated killing of an innocent person by means of capital punishment; therefore, it is a subset of wrongful execution. The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' describes it as "death inflicted by process of law ...
'' ( ko, 사법살인) as obediently sentencing capital punishments over spy scandals fabricated by dictators. Though there was once a time in 1971 when the Supreme Court revolted institutionally against rule of President Park Chung-hee by exercising power of judicial review redistributed by the seventh Constitution of
Third Republic which repealed the Constitutional Court of
Second Republic. Yet this revolt was repressed without bloodshed, when the President Park Chung-hee refused reappointment of Supreme Court Justices which was traditionally expected at that time. From that time, as the
Yushin Constitution
The fourth Republic of Korea () was the government of South Korea from November 1972 to March 1981.
The Fourth republic was founded on the approval of the Yushin Constitution in the 1972 constitutional referendum, codifying the ''de facto'' di ...
in 1972 revitalized the Constitutional Committee with power of judicial review which can be initiated only by request from the Supreme Court, the Supreme Court never even tried to request judicial review to the committee until South Korea got democratized by
June Struggle
The June Democratic Struggle (), also known as the June Democracy Movement and June Democratic Uprising, was a nationwide pro-democracy movement in South Korea that generated mass protests from June 10 to June 29, 1987. The demonstrations force ...
in 1987. This led South Korean politicians after democratization to build
Constitutional Court of Korea
The Constitutional Court of Korea () is highest constitutional court in judicial branch of South Korea, seated in Jongno, Seoul. Established under Chapter 6 of the Constitution of South Korea, the Court has ultimate jurisdiction over judicial ...
with entirely independent power of judicial review which does not require the Supreme Court's request.
Nevertheless, of long dark ages, the Supreme Court of Korea after democratization is famous for highly efficient daily judicial system than most of other developed countries. For example, South Korean ordinary judiciary ranked at top-tier for both rapidness of trial length and cost efficiency at comparative research of
OECD
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD; french: Organisation de coopération et de développement économiques, ''OCDE'') is an intergovernmental organisation with 38 member countries, founded in 1961 to stimulate e ...
in year 2015.
Composition
Justices
Since the current Constitution of South Korea doesn't specify the exact number of Supreme Court justices ( ko, 대법관), the number of justices is stipulated by the statute called the Court Organization Act ( ko, 법원조직법) on the organization of ordinary courts. Currently in 2022, the number of justices is 14 by article 4(2) of the Act. All of the Supreme Court justices are appointed by the
President of South Korea
The president of the Republic of Korea (), also known as the president of South Korea (often abbreviated to POTROK or POSK; ), is the head of state and head of government of the Republic of Korea. The president leads the State Council, and is ...
with the consent of the
National Assembly
In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repre ...
, according to article 104(2) of the Constitution. It is notable that article 104(2) of the Constitution also empowers the
Chief Justice of the Supreme Court to recommend candidates for Supreme Court justice. To be appointed as Supreme Court justice, one should be at least 45 years old, qualified as an attorney at law, and also should have more than 20 years of experience in legal practice or academia, by article 42(1) of the Act.
Council of Supreme Court Justices
Article 104(2) of the Constitution requires consent of 'Council of Supreme Court Justices' ( ko, 대법관회의) for appointment of lower ordinary courts Judges ( ko, 판사) by
Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. The council is composed of all Supreme Court Justices (including the Chief Justice), and can make decision by simple majority among quorum of two-thirds of all Supreme Court Justices, according to article 16(1), (2) and (3) of the Court Organization Act. When the vote ties, the Chief Justice has casting vote as permanent presiding chair at the council. Also empowered by article 17 of the Act, the council has also other supervisory functions for the Chief Justice's power of court administration, such as promulgation of interior procedural rules, selection of judicial precedents for publication and fiscal planning for all ordinary courts including the Supreme Court itself.
Chief Justice of the Supreme Court
By article 104(1) of the Constitution, the
Chief Justice of the Supreme Court is appointed by the
President of South Korea
The president of the Republic of Korea (), also known as the president of South Korea (often abbreviated to POTROK or POSK; ), is the head of state and head of government of the Republic of Korea. The president leads the State Council, and is ...
with the consent of the
National Assembly
In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repre ...
. The experience and age requirements for the Chief Justice are the same as that of the associate Supreme Court justices under article 42(1) of the Court Organization Act.
The Chief Justice's role is more than being the presiding member of the Grand Bench ( ko, 전원합의체), composed of more than two-thirds of all fourteen justices. The Chief nominates candidates for three of the nine Constitutional Court justices under article 111(3) of Constitution and serves as chair at the Council of Supreme Court Justices. Also, the Chief appoints one of the associate Supreme Court justices as Minister of National Court Administration ( ko, 법원행정처) and appoints all ordinary lower court judges with the consent of the Council of Supreme Court Justices.
Tenure
Article 105(1), (2) and (4) of the Constitution and article 45(4) of the Court Organization Act provides the term of associate Justices as renewable six-year up to mandatory retirement age of 70. However, there's no Justices who attempted to renew their term by reappointment in current Sixth Republic, because renewing attempt can harm judicial independence of the Court. During the term, according to article 106(2) of the Constitution, Justices shall not be expelled from office unless by impeachment or a sentence of imprisonment. Also, participating in any political party or activities are prohibited by article 43(1), 49 of the Act.
A noteworthy point of South Korean Supreme Court Justices is they can be retired from office against their will while in term, when they are regarded as having unbearable mental or physical impairment. This 'order' of retirement by
President of South Korea
The president of the Republic of Korea (), also known as the president of South Korea (often abbreviated to POTROK or POSK; ), is the head of state and head of government of the Republic of Korea. The president leads the State Council, and is ...
due to impairment of Supreme Court Justice ( ko, 심신장해로 인한 퇴직명령) is clearly stipulated in article 106(2) of the Constitution and article 47 of the Act. Other lower ordinary court Judges can also be ordered to retire due to impairment by
Supreme Court Chief Justice. This is retirement order system is one of major difference between Supreme Court Justice and Constitutional Court Justice; the latter cannot be ordered to retire because of impairment, as there are no statute supporting such retirement order system in the Constitutional Court Act.
Current justices
Organization
Research judges
Judges in Research division of the Supreme Court ( ko, 재판연구관, formerly known as 'Research Judges' or 'Judicial Researchers') are officials supporting Supreme Court Justices. By article 24(3) of the Act, there are two types of Research Judges; One is originally lower ordinary court Judges seconded to the Supreme Court by order of Chief Justice, another is experts who are not lower ordinary court Judges. The latter is called 'Judicial Researchers' and appointed for maximum term of 3 years, while former is called 'Research Judges' and usually seconded to work in the Supreme Court for 1 to 2 years. This system is influenced by German 'Research Associates' (''german: Wissenschaftlichen Mitarbeiter'') who are originally lower court judges seconded to federal courts up to five years, working as judicial assistant for judges in highest courts. Though working term for these research staffs are short, they are core staffs who operates whole procedure of the Court, since there are too many of cases appealed to the Court. The number of Research Judges are currently around 100, while number of Judicial Researchers are around 30.
National Court Administration
Established as apparatus of the Supreme Court under article 67 of the Court Organization Act, the 'National Court Administration' (NCA, ko, 법원행정처) manages all of matters on administration of all ordinary courts (including the Supreme Court itself) in South Korea. The head of the NCA is called 'Minister of NCA' ( ko, 법원행정처장) and solely appointed by the
Chief Justice among associate Supreme Court Justices. As other Supreme Court Justices, the Minister is treated as same level as other Ministers at
State Council State Council may refer to:
Government
* State Council of the Republic of Korea, the national cabinet of South Korea, headed by the President
* State Council of the People's Republic of China, the national cabinet and chief administrative auth ...
in executive branch of South Korean government. Also the Vice Minister of NCA is appointed by the Chief Justice usually from senior lower court Judges and treated as same level as other Vice-Ministers. The NCA follows direction of the Chief Justice and implements decisions from the Council of Supreme Court Justices. Its main role includes assisting the Chief Justice's power on human resource issues of lower ordinary court Judges, planning fiscal budget and expenditure issues for all ordinary courts, and internal inspection for anti-corruption ethics.
Judicial Research and Training Institute
The 'Judicial Research and Training Institute' (JRTI, ko, 사법연수원) is currently an institution for training and reeducating lower ordinary court Judges by article 72 of the Court Organization Act. However, it was originally a kind of nation-wide 2-year law school supported by South Korean government before South Korea adopted American styled 3-year law school system in year 2008. Before South Korea adopted American law school system ( ko, 법학전문대학원), South Korea trained its legal professionals mainly by JRTI. Another route was recruitment by
South Korean Armed Forces
The Republic of Korea Armed Forces (), also known as the ROK Armed Forces, are the armed forces of South Korea. The ROK Armed Forces is one of the largest and most powerful standing armed forces in the world with a reported personnel strength of ...
as 'Judge Advocates' ( ko, 군법무관).
The JRTI was basically a South Korean conversion of '
Legal Research and Training Institute' ( ja, 司法研修所) in Japan, which was an institution for training judges, prosecutors and attorneys-at-laws at the same time. The trainees at JRTI was selected by a nation-wide exam on jurisprudence called 'Judicial exam' ( ko, 사법시험). These trainees were commonly trained and competed against each other in the JRTI for 2 years, as their career option after graduation was restricted according to graduation records of JRTI. Graduated trainee with superior records usually choose to become Judges and Prosecutors, while trainees with lower records had to choose working as lawyers in fields. This partially continued civil law tradition of regarding prosecutors as de facto part of judiciary, like
French National School for the Judiciary
The French National School for the Judiciary ( French: ''École nationale de la magistrature'' or ENM) is a French ''grande école'', founded in 1958 by French President Charles de Gaulle and the father of the current French Constitution, Michel ...
, is reflected in organization of JRTI, as the deputy director (or vice-president) of the JRTI is appointed among Prosecutors by article 74(1) of the Act. Yet after American styled 3-year law school system was adopted in South Korea, the JRTI lost its status as only professional school for law in South Korea, and turned into internal education institute for newly appointed Judges and Law clerks. Some of senior Judges are also retrained in JRTI for technical matters. Also, currently all of training functions for Prosecutors are transferred to 'Institute of Justice' ( ko, 법무연수원) at
Ministry of Justice A Ministry of Justice is a common type of government department that serves as a justice ministry.
Lists of current ministries of justice
Named "Ministry"
* Ministry of Justice (Abkhazia)
* Ministry of Justice (Afghanistan)
* Ministry of Just ...
.
Judicial Policy Research Institute
Established by article 76-2 of the Court Organization Act in year 2014, the 'Judicial Policy Research Institute' (JPRI, ko, 사법정책연구원) is apparatus of the Supreme Court for research on policy issues concerning judicial system of South Korea. It also has function for educating public on elementary issues on function of ordinary courts. Research fellows and Researchers at the Institute are recruited mainly from lower ordinary courts Judges, yet significant number of Researchers are recruited from outside of ordinary courts usually with PhD degrees, by article 76-4 of the Act. The JPRI is currently located in
Goyang
Goyang (''Goyang-si''; ) is a city in Gyeonggi Province in the north of South Korea. It is part of the Seoul Capital Area, making Goyang one of Seoul's satellite cities. It is one of the largest cities in the Seoul Capital Area, with a populatio ...
,
Gyeonggi
Gyeonggi-do (, ) is the most populous province in South Korea. Its name, ''Gyeonggi'', means "京 (the capital) and 畿 (the surrounding area)". Thus, ''Gyeonggi-do'' can be translated as "Seoul and the surrounding areas of Seoul". Seoul, the na ...
.
Building
The Supreme Court was located in Seosomun-dong of
Jung-gu, Seoul until year 1995. Currently, it is located in
Seocho
Seocho District () is one of the 25 '' gu'' (local government districts) which make up the city of Seoul, South Korea. Seocho is generally referred to as a part of Greater Gangnam Area, along with Gangnam District. As of 2022, Seocho District ra ...
,
Seoul
Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 ...
. The Supreme Court building in Seocho has 16 floors and two underground floors with total space aroung 66,500 square meters. This large size building was necessary to hold the Supreme Court, National Court Administration and law library all together. Main Center of the building is mainly used by the Supreme Court, while east Wing is maily used by National Court Administration. Other Wing is used by law library. At the center entrance of the building, three Korean words are engraved; '' ko, 자유'' meaning freedom, '' ko, 평등'' meaning equality, and '' ko, 정의'' meaning Justice. The Supreme Court usually does not hold open hearing session, though sessions for verdicts are regularly held on the second and last Thursday of a month.
Jurisdiction
Empowered by article 101(2) and 110(2) of the Constitution, the Supreme Court has comprehensive final appellate jurisdiction over all ordinary courts and military courts cases. It can also exercise power of judicial review on sub-statutory level as other ordinary courts according to article 107(2) of the Constitution. It is notable that some of cases are handled only in the Supreme Court as single-tiered trial without possibility of appeal. This kind of single-tiered trial cases include dispute on election of
President of South Korea
The president of the Republic of Korea (), also known as the president of South Korea (often abbreviated to POTROK or POSK; ), is the head of state and head of government of the Republic of Korea. The president leads the State Council, and is ...
,
National Assembly
In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repre ...
members, and
Provincial-level local governors and local parliament members according to article 222 and 223 of the Public Official Election Act. Another example of single-tiered trial case at the Supreme Court is case on discipline of Judge's misconduct, under article 27(2) of the Discipline Of Judges Act.
Procedure
By article 7(1) of the Court Organization Act, the Supreme Court handles final appellate cases in two different phases. One is 'Petty Bench' which is a small panel inside the Court presided by most senior Justice inside the Petty Bench, and the other is 'Grand Bench' which is an ''
en banc
In law, an en banc session (; French for "in bench"; also known as ''in banc'', ''in banco'' or ''in bank'') is a session in which a case is heard before all the judges of a court (before the entire bench) rather than by one judge or a smaller ...
'' of the Court which is always presided by the Chief Justice.
Petty Bench and Grand Bench
In the first phase, the 'Petty Bench' ( ko, 소부) composed of four Supreme Court Justices reviews how appeal should be handled. If the four Justices in the same Petty Bench makes decision unanimously, the case is decided in the Petty Bench. However, when the Petty Bench cannot make unanimous decision by itself, or when the Petty Bench decides such case should be handled in en banc (for example, if it is necessary to change precedent of the Supreme Court, or if constitutional review at sub-statutory level is important issue of the case, etc.), the Grand Bench takes the case. Since there is three petty benches in the Court, only twelve out of fourteen Supreme Court Justices are participating in the first phase of the procedure. Other two Supreme Court Justices who are not belonged to any Petty Bench, are the
Chief Justice and the Minister of National Court Administration, both having administrative role inside the Court. In the second phase, the 'Grand Bench' ( ko, 전원합의체) composed of more than two-thirds of all Supreme Court Justices reviews the case came up from the Petty Bench. It makes decision by simple majority. However, if there's no majority opinion in the Bench, opinion of the Court is decided according to article 66 of the Act.
Presiding Justice and Justice in charge
In South Korea, among panel of Judges or Justices, there should be 'presiding member ( ko, 재판장)' and 'member in charge ( ko, 주심)'. The presiding member is official representative of the panel. The member in charge is who oversees hearing and trial and writes draft judgment for each specific case. This role of 'member in charge' is mostly similar to
Judge-Rapporteur
Judge Rapporteur or Judge-Rapporteur is a term for one of Judge in Panel or Chamber of Judges, who is nominated to write case report as rapporteur for other Judges, usually in European courts.
European Court of Human Rights
In European Court ...
in
European Court of Justice
The European Court of Justice (ECJ, french: Cour de Justice européenne), formally just the Court of Justice, is the supreme court of the European Union in matters of European Union law. As a part of the Court of Justice of the European Un ...
. Usually the member in charge is automatically (or randomly) selected by computer to negate suspicion of partiality. However, the presiding member is bureaucratically selected by seniority. Due to this virtual difference in role, 'presiding Judge' in South Korean courts usually refer to'' ko, 부장판사'' which means such Judge is bureaucratically regarded as 'head of the panel', not who really takes role of presiding member in each of specific cases.
Case naming
Current cases in the Supreme Court are named as following rule. First two or four digit Arabic numbers indicate the year when the case is filed. And the following case code composed of Alphabets matches with specific jurisdiction (for example, 'Da' is for private law cases, while 'Du' is for criminal law cases) of the Court. The last serial number is given in the order of case filing of each year.
Statistics
Approximately, the Supreme Court receives about 35,000 ~ 48,000 appeal cases per year from year 2011 to 2020. Yet South Korean Supreme Court has no legal power to select reviewable case by discretion, so it cannot make 'permission to appeal' ( ko, 상고허가). Rather, every cases appealed to the Supreme Court should be decided at least in level of Petty Bench composed of four Supreme Court Justices. This unique institutional structure increases workload of the Supreme Court seriously. For example, while the Supreme Court makes decision on about 35,000 ~ 50,000 cases per year, only 10 ~ 20 cases are decided at the Grand Bench per year. Even former Supreme Court Justice Park Sihwan confessed in his own article after retirement, that much of cases in the Petty Bench are deliberated for only '3 to 4 minutes', which makes role of Research Judges in the Court significantly important.
Whether how to reform this system is still remained in South Korea as controversy among increasing number of Justices, empowering the Court with discretion of 'permission to appeal', or establishing another 'appellate court' ( ko, 상고법원) which only deals with second-rate important final appeal cases abandoned from the Supreme Court. This was one of the reason that former Chief Justice
Yang Sung-tae
Yang Sung-tae (; born 26 January 1948) is a South Korean jurist and the 15th Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Korea.
Early life and education
Born in Busan, Yang received a LL.B. from Seoul National University in 1970. He began his law ca ...
tried to interfere in lower court judgments to get endorsement on foundation of 'appellate court' from former
President of South Korea
The president of the Republic of Korea (), also known as the president of South Korea (often abbreviated to POTROK or POSK; ), is the head of state and head of government of the Republic of Korea. The president leads the State Council, and is ...
,
Park Geun-hye
Park Geun-hye (; ; often in English ; born 2 February 1952) is a South Korean politician who served as the 11th president of South Korea from 2013 to 2017, until she was impeached and convicted on related corruption charges.
Park was the fi ...
, as Yang opposed to increasing number of Supreme Court Justices as since it can harm previlieges of Justices.
Criticism and Issues
* The Supreme Court's fame and trust is again gradually deteriorating again in contemporary South Korea, due to social concerns on unfairly lenient attitude toward establishments like
Chaebol
A chaebol (, ; ) is a large industrial South Korean conglomerate run and controlled by an individual or family. A chaebol often consists of multiple diversified affiliates, controlled by a person or group whose power over the group often exc ...
and embarrassing political struggle inside the hierarchy of ordinary courts such as case-rigging scandal of 15th
Chief Justice Yang Sung-tae
Yang Sung-tae (; born 26 January 1948) is a South Korean jurist and the 15th Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Korea.
Early life and education
Born in Busan, Yang received a LL.B. from Seoul National University in 1970. He began his law ca ...
.
* Both Constitution and the Court Organization Act have no contingency plan for massive vacancy of the Supreme Court. Thus, when the National Assembly refuses to make consent on appointment of Supreme Court Justices by article 104(1) and (2) of the Constitution, there is no other option and the Supreme Court is paralyzed by vacancy of Justices.
While this problem is also happening in the
Constitutional Court of Korea
The Constitutional Court of Korea () is highest constitutional court in judicial branch of South Korea, seated in Jongno, Seoul. Established under Chapter 6 of the Constitution of South Korea, the Court has ultimate jurisdiction over judicial ...
, the problem of the Supreme Court is lighter than that of Constitutional Court, because the Supreme Court only requires simple majority for any decision by article 66(1) of the Act. Yet the Constitutional Court should have more at least six Justices to make upholding decision by article 113(1) of the Constitution.
See also
*
Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Korea
The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Korea () is the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Korea. As presiding judge of Grand bench composed of two-thirds of fourteen Supreme Court Justices, the Chief represents the Supreme Court of Korea. ...
*
Politics of South Korea
The politics of the Republic of Korea take place in the framework of a presidential representative democratic republic, whereby the president is the head of state, and of a multi-party system. The government exercises executive power and l ...
*
Government of South Korea
The Government of South Korea is the union government of the Republic of Korea, created by the Constitution of South Korea as the executive, legislative and judicial authority of the republic. The president acts as the head of state and is th ...
*
Judiciary of South Korea
The judiciary of South Korea ( ko, 대한민국 사법부, 대한민국의 사법기관) is judicial branch ( ko, 사법부) of South Korean central government, established by Chapter 5 and 6 of the Constitution of South Korea.
* Under the Cha ...
*
Constitutional Court of Korea
The Constitutional Court of Korea () is highest constitutional court in judicial branch of South Korea, seated in Jongno, Seoul. Established under Chapter 6 of the Constitution of South Korea, the Court has ultimate jurisdiction over judicial ...
References
External links
the Supreme Court of Korea Official WebsiteThe Constitution of the Republic of Korea (translated in English), Korea Legislation Research InstituteCourt Organization Act (translated in English), Korea Legislation Research Institute2019 Introductory Book of the Supreme Court of Korea, published and downloadable by the Supreme Court of Korea
{{Authority control
Judiciary of South Korea
Korea, South
South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...
Courts in South Korea
Law of South Korea
1948 establishments in South Korea
Courts and tribunals established in 1948
Seocho District