A bill to increase the number of Supreme Court justices from the current 14 to 26 passed the National Assembly's plenary session on the 28th, a weekend, led by the ruling party. With this, the National Assembly's legislative process for the so-called "three judicial reform bills" pushed by the Democratic Party of Korea has been completed.
At the evening plenary session, the National Assembly passed the amendment to the Court Organization Act, the so-called Supreme Court justice expansion bill. The amendment centers on expanding the number of Supreme Court justices from the current 14 to 26 by adding four each year over three years. It takes effect two years after the law is promulgated.
The amendment also includes a provision to swiftly handle electric communication financial fraud cases, such as voice phishing, by assigning related cases to single-judge jurisdiction rather than a panel of judges.
This bill is the last of the three judicial reform bills that the Democratic Party of Korea sought to pass during the February extraordinary session. Starting on the 25th with the introduction of a Criminal Act amendment establishing the crime of legal distortion, the party proceeded in succession with the Constitutional Court Act amendment introducing the trial appeal system and, on this day, the Supreme Court justice expansion bill.
The legal distortion crime law provides that if judges, prosecutors, and others involved in criminal cases distort the law in a case under trial or currently investigating in order to give someone illegal or unjust benefits or to harm rights and interests, they are subject to up to 10 years in prison and up to 10 years of disqualification.
The law introducing the trial appeal system primarily adds court judgments to the scope of constitutional complaint review. It allows a constitutional complaint when a final court ruling infringes on basic rights by judging in a way contrary to a Constitutional Court decision, when basic rights are infringed without following due process prescribed by the Constitution or law, or when a violation of the Constitution or law makes the infringement of basic rights clear.
The People Power Party denounced the bills as a "judicial destruction evil law to save President Lee Jae-myung" and launched a series of filibusters. However, the ruling party, which holds an overwhelming majority, processed the bills at the plenary session through debate closure and a vote 24 hours later.
Immediately after passing the Supreme Court justice expansion bill, the Democratic Party of Korea also introduced to the plenary session an amendment to the National Referendum Act to guarantee overseas citizens' referendum voting rights. The amendment includes adding "those listed on the overseas voter register" as eligible voters and operating procedures such as overseas absentee reports and overseas voter registration applications in line with the Public Official Election Act.
It also lowers the age of referendum voters from the current 19 and older to 18 and older, and introduces voting convenience systems such as early voting, home voting, and shipboard voting. The remaining procedures, including voting hours and ballot papers, are to follow the Public Official Election Act. It also includes a provision that a constitutional amendment referendum must be held on the Wednesday immediately before the 30th day from the date the constitutional amendment bill is passed in the National Assembly.
The amendment to the National Referendum Act serves as follow-up legislation to a 2014 Constitutional Court decision. At the time, the court issued a ruling of incompatibility with the Constitution on the provision that allowed only those currently registered in resident records on the referendum notice date or overseas citizens who had reported a domestic abode to be placed on the voter list, saying it restricted overseas citizens' voting rights. It then recommended correcting the relevant laws by 2015, but because no follow-up legislation was enacted, the legislative vacuum continued for more than 10 years.
The amendment to the National Referendum Act originally placed on the plenary agenda also included a clause punishing the spread of false information to the extent that it hinders election management duties. However, when the People Power Party and others objected that the clause was a "muzzle law" that blocks raising issues with election management duties themselves, the Democratic Party of Korea deleted the clause just before introducing the bill.
When the amendment to the National Referendum Act was introduced, the People Power Party again launched a filibuster. The bill is expected to be processed in the evening on the 1st of next month, 24 hours later.