New National Court Administration Minister (Supreme Court justice) Park Young-jae on the 4th said he opposes the so-called "judicial reform plan" pushed by the Democratic Party of Korea. The party is also seeking to abolish the National Court Administration, which oversees judicial administration at courts nationwide.
Minister Park appeared at the plenary session of The National Assembly's Legislation and Judiciary Committee that day and opposed the Democratic Party of Korea's plan to abolish the National Court Administration and establish a "Judicial Administration Committee," saying, "The independence of judicial power must include the independence of judicial administration."
On the Democratic Party of Korea's push to increase the number of Supreme Court justices, Minister Park said, "If we add more Supreme Court justices, outstanding lower court judges will inevitably have to come to the Supreme Court as judicial researchers, but there is no way to make up for the transfer of outstanding lower court judges to the Supreme Court," adding, "We are deeply concerned about the weakening of the lower courts."
Regarding the introduction of a "judgment petition" system that would allow constitutional complaints against court rulings, Minister Park said, "It paves the way to a four-tier court system and would plunge the public into a litigation hell."
He went on, "Under our Constitution, the Constitutional Court and the Supreme Court have separate powers. Whether the Constitutional Court can accept a judgment petition against a final Supreme Court ruling is ultimately a constitutional matter." It is interpreted to mean that the current constitutional framework is incompatible with judgment petitions and that a constitutional amendment would be required to introduce them.
The Democratic Party of Korea is also pushing to introduce a "law distortion offense," saying it will punish judges and prosecutors who distort the law for improper purposes or make gross errors in fact-finding.
When People Power Party lawmaker Shin Dong-wook asked, "The former head of the National Court Administration said, 'As complaints and accusations continue, there is a high risk of infringing on judicial independence, and the elements such as legal distortion are too subjective, which is problematic.' What do you think?" Minister Park answered, "I feel the same way." Asked next, "Is your position that the law distortion offense is a very dangerous law?" he replied, "Yes."