The Supreme Court's Judicial Administration Office expressed its position that the ruling Democratic Party of Korea is pushing for the 'five main subjects of judicial reform' and described it as "an unusual emergency situation." It also noted that it is considering convening a meeting of nationwide court heads soon.
According to the legal community on the 1st, Minister Cheon Dae-yeop posted an article titled "Remarks on judicial reform discussions" in the court's internal network (CourtNet) court head community.
In this article, Minister Cheon said, "Considering the previous national judicial reform discussion process, the current judicial reform is progressing rapidly without official participation from the judiciary," and stated, "Despite our efforts to point out and correct these issues, we are facing an unusual emergency situation where the procedural progress continues."
Recently, the Judicial Administration Office reportedly reviewed five subjects: ▲increasing the number of Supreme Court justices ▲diversifying the composition of the Supreme Court recommendation committee ▲revising the judge evaluation system ▲expanding the disclosure of lower court rulings ▲introducing pre-hearing procedures for search and seizure warrants, and explained the review results to the Democratic Party's "Public-Centered Judicial Reform Special Committee."
Regarding the issue of increasing the number of Supreme Court justices, Minister Cheon stated, "If the law is revised in a way that significantly increases the number of Supreme Court justices, large-scale judicial resources such as judicial research personnel could be concentrated in the Supreme Court," adding, "As a result, the capacity of lower courts may be weakened."
Minister Cheon discussed changing the judge evaluation system through the judge evaluation committee, stating, "External evaluations and personnel interventions could undermine the independence of judges and trials, leading to issues that shake the foundation of the judiciary," and made it clear that he finds such changes difficult to accept.
Regarding the expansion of disclosure of lower court rulings, Minister Cheon expressed his strong support for increasing access to judicial information for the public by expanding the disclosure of past rulings. However, he added, "In the case of unconfirmed criminal rulings, there are concerns that it could practically hinder the presumption of innocence or the exercise of defense rights, and thus, even if a legislative decision to disclose is made, supplementary measures are necessary."
Minister Cheon explained his supportive stance on the introduction of pre-hearing procedures for search and seizure based on the results of past judicial administration advisory meetings and the revision process of criminal procedure rules.