New Supreme Court Justice Candidates Nominated

Supreme Court Administration Office deputy chief Kim Hwang-sik (who passed the 14th national bar exam), Seoul High District Court chief judge Kim Ji-hyeong (who is also a Judicial Research and Training Institute judicial researcher and who passed the 21st national bar exam) and lawyer Park Si-hwan (who passed the 21st national bar exam) were nominated for new Supreme Court Justice candidate openings yesterday.

Lee Yong-hun, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, submitted his recommendations for the new Supreme Court Justice openings to President Roh Moo-hyun at Cheong Wa Dae yesterday.

President Roh accepted the Chief Justice’s recommendations and is scheduled to submit a motion for their appointment to the National Assembly early next week.

A confirmation hearing for their appointment before the National Assembly will be held in the second week of November, and a vote for the motion will likely be held at a plenary session in mid-November.

Observers say that these nominations by the court are a sign that the personnel management doctrine of making nominations based on applicants’ qualifications and from a variety of backgrounds is being accepted.

However, some say that since, among the three, one passed the 14th national bar exam, and other two passed the 21st national bar exam, and justices who passed the 15th to 20th national bar exam all were excluded from this nomination, the stability of the Supreme Court system has been damaged.

“Applicants’ basic qualifications, including legal knowledge, judging ability, and health are the standards that we used to single out the candidates,” a Supreme Court spokesperson said. “We also considered evaluations made by figures inside the court and the social demand for more Supreme Court Justices from a variety of backgrounds.”

On the same day, Chief Justice Lee also appointed Jang Yun-gi, the head of the Changwon District Court, as the acting head of the Supreme Court Administration Office.

Ji-Seong Jeon verso@donga.com