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Kim Yong-dam, the New Supreme Court Justice, Waiting for Assembly`s approval

Kim Yong-dam, the New Supreme Court Justice, Waiting for Assembly`s approval

Posted August. 22, 2003 21:41,   

With the recommendation of Choi Jong-young, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, President Roh Moo-hyun appointed Kim Yong-dam, head of the Gwangju High Court, on August 22, to take the place of Supreme Court Justice Suh Sung, who is retiring on September 11.

President Roh, who met with Choi in the morning, accepted the recommendation, and the appointment for the new Supreme Court Justice will be submitted to the National Assembly for approval. After the meeting, President Roh had lunch with Park Kwan-yong, chairman of the National Assembly, and Choi. The three people agreed to proceed with the approval procedure as fast as possible.

Accordingly, as soon as the approval bill is sent to the National Assembly, a confirmation hearing and the vote will be held at the beginning of next month to finalize the Supreme Court Justice designation.

Blue House spokesperson Yoon Tae-young said in a briefing that, “President Roh not only agreed with Choi on the Supreme Court Justice nomination, but also on the necessity of judiciary reform, and has agreed to exert efforts together,” and that,” Choi explained the judicial reform plan, including the organization and the structure of the Supreme Court, the personnel system of the judiciary, the system for selecting and training the judiciary, joint establishment of the judiciary reform agency and etc, and the President agreed with the plan.”

The Supreme Court elaborated on recommending Kim for the post of Supreme Court Justice, saying that, “not only is Kim trusted by his colleague judges for his personality, but he also has expertise in the court and in legal administration, having worked on the justice staff in the Supreme Court and in the Office of Court Administration.”

The Supreme Court added that they will “select a candidate who could bring diversity to the members of the Supreme Court, by reflecting various opinions and desires of in and out of the court, at the next Supreme Court Justice recommendation.”



Jeong-Hun Kim Jin-Kyun Kil jnghn@donga.com leon@donga.com