Yang Sung-tae (; born 26 January 1948) is a South Korean jurist and the 15th
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 ...
.
Early life and education
Born in
Busan
Busan (), officially known as is South Korea's most populous city after Seoul, with a population of over 3.4 million inhabitants. Formerly romanized as Pusan, it is the economic, cultural and educational center of southeastern South Korea, ...
, Yang received a
LL.B.
Bachelor of Laws ( la, Legum Baccalaureus; LL.B.) is an undergraduate law degree in the United Kingdom and most common law jurisdictions. Bachelor of Laws is also the name of the law degree awarded by universities in the People's Republic of Chi ...
from
Seoul National University in 1970. He began his law career in 1975 as a judge of Seoul Civil District Court, and afterwards served as a judge in several nationwide courts. He also taught as a professor at the Judicial Research and Training Institute. He was later appointed as the Chief Judge of Busan District Court and Patent Court.
Career
During the
1997 Asian financial crisis, Yang, as the senior presiding judge of the Bankruptcy Chambers of Seoul Central District Court, ordered court supervision of
bankrupt
Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor ...
companies based on fairness and transparency. As the Vice Minister of the National Court Administration, he played a role in reforming criminal procedure.
In February 2005, he was named a
Supreme Court Justice
The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest-ranking judicial body in the United States. Its membership, as set by the Judiciary Act of 1869, consists of the chief justice of the United States and eight Associate Justice of the Supreme ...
and served until February 2011. On September 25, 2011, he was inaugurated as the 15th
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 ...
. On September 24, 2017, his term as Chief Justice ended and a successor was named by President
Moon Jae-in
Moon Jae-in (; ; born 24 January 1953) is a South Korean former politician, civil servant and lawyer who served as the 12th president of South Korea between 2017 and 2022. Prior to his presidency, he served as Senior Secretary for Civil Affairs an ...
.
Charges and arrest
By September 2018 his actions as chief justice were under investigation by the current chief justice. On January 24 he was arrested on the count of 40 charges including abuse of his authority as a judge as part of the political scandal that resulted in the
impeachment of Park Geun-hye
The impeachment of Park Geun-hye, President of South Korea, was the culmination of a political scandal involving interventions to the presidency from her aide, Choi Soon-sil. The impeachment vote took place on 9 December 2016, with 234 ...
, the president of Korea during the time he was the chief justice.
Instead of Yang, a judge from a district court was appointed as the
Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, and several civil lawsuits were detained in the process. The former Chief of Justice's actions increased skepticism about the independence of the judiciary.
References
Further reading
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Yang, Sung-tae
1948 births
Living people
South Korean judges
South Korean criminals
Judges convicted of crimes
Chief justices of the Supreme Court of Korea
Justices of the Supreme Court of Korea
Seoul National University School of Law alumni