Gang Dong-won, a presiding judge at the Seoul Family Court, was elected the new chair of the National Judges Representatives Conference, a body composed of representative judges from courts at all levels. Jo Jeong-min, a presiding judge at the Bucheon Branch, was chosen as vice chair.
The National Judges Representatives Conference held its first meeting of the year on the morning of the 13th at the Judicial Research and Training Institute in Goyang, Gyeonggi, and elected a new leadership. The conference is a body where representative judges elected from courts at all levels participate to offer opinions or make proposals on judicial administration and judicial independence.
After completing the Judicial Research and Training Institute in 2002, Gang worked as an attorney before being appointed a judge in 2009. Inside and outside the judiciary, he is regarded as someone who has consistently handled trial work. He has not often made public his political views.
This chair election also draws attention because it took place at the first judges representatives meeting held after the so-called three judicial reform laws passed the National Assembly and were promulgated. With internal concerns in the courts continuing over these bills—which include the creation of the crime of judicial distortion, the introduction of an appeal on constitutional grounds for trials, and an increase in the number of Supreme Court justices—the representative judges first formed a new leadership.
Chief Justice Jo Hee-de also directly mentioned the internal burden on the courts regarding judicial reform legislation in his remarks that day. Jo said, "As laws that change the foundation of the judicial system have recently taken effect, I understand the concerns you as judges must be feeling are significant," adding, "As chief justice, I feel a heavy responsibility for the circumstances that led to this result." He continued, "If the National Judges Representatives Conference can pool its wisdom on this matter, I will actively look into it and make multifaceted efforts so that the public and judges do not face difficulties."
Meanwhile, Song Seung-yong, a presiding judge at the Seoul Central District Court, also ran for chair but came up short. Song has been seen as someone who has expressed relatively strong concerns about current issues facing the judiciary. In May last year, after the Supreme Court en banc overturned and remanded President Lee Jae-myung's election law case with a guilty purport, he also raised a critical voice toward Chief Justice Jo.
By contrast, Gang has been considered a figure who places emphasis on relatively stable meeting management. In January 2023, he sentenced lawmaker Lim Jong-seong of the Democratic Party of Korea in the first trial on charges of violating the Public Official Election Act to a penalty leading to forfeiture of his seat.
The new leadership will also discuss whether to place an agenda item related to the three judicial reform laws on the table that day. The agenda reportedly presupposes the need to restore trust in the judiciary, while also expressing the judicial community's views on side effects and confusion arising from the implementation of the system. Before the meeting, it had secured the support of 10 or more representative judges. Chief Justice Jo's remark that "I will listen more closely to your voices as representatives of judges" is also being taken as giving momentum to discussion of the related agenda in the meeting room.