As the Democratic Party of Korea is pushing to increase the number of Supreme Court justices from the current 14 to 26, opposition to the expansion was found to be higher than support within the margin of error.
In a public opinion poll of 1,002 people aged 18 and older nationwide conducted by Gallup Korea from on the 28th to the 30th and released on the 31st, 43% said the number of Supreme Court justices should remain at 14. Those who said it should be increased to 26 came to 38%.
Responses favoring "keep 14" were higher among those in their 60s (59%) and those 70 and older (52%), while responses favoring "increase to 26" were higher among those in their 50s (55%) and 40s (53%).
Even among respondents who gave a positive assessment of President Lee Jae-myung's job performance, 20% answered that "it should be kept at 14." Those saying "it should be increased to 26" were 61%.
Among those who said the number of Supreme Court justices should remain at 14, the reasons cited were "unnecessary; the current number is sufficient" (25%), "if increased, there are concerns about damaging neutrality and fairness" (16%), "President Lee Jae-myung is trying to neutralize his own crimes," "concerns about conflict, noise, and disputes within the judiciary" (8% each), "the current system is good; it should continue as is," "violation of constitutional principles and separation of powers" (7% each), and "waste of taxes" (6%).
By contrast, those who said the number of Supreme Court justices should be increased to 26 cited reasons such as "it can resolve excessive workload, hasty rulings, and trial delays caused by a shortage of justices" (26%), "a diversity of opinions will be reflected" (16%), "fairness and neutrality will be expanded" (15%), "they will do the work well; increased efficiency" (11%), and "there are problems in the judiciary; reform is needed" (8%).
Gallup Korea interpreted that, rather than the number of justices itself, distrust of the judiciary or a wariness that the judiciary could be swayed politically influenced the responses. In a survey conducted after the Constitutional Court upheld the impeachment of former President Yoon Suk-yeol in April, trust in the courts was 46%. In the same survey, trust by institution was the Constitutional Court 61%, the National Election Commission 51%, the police 47%, the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO) 32%, and the prosecution 25%.
This survey was conducted through interviewer-administered phone interviews to randomly generated mobile phone virtual numbers. The margin of error is ±3.1 percentage points at a 95% confidence level, the contact rate is 42.3%, and the response rate is 12.6%. For details, refer to the website of the National Election Survey Deliberation Commission.