Today's Judges' Representative Meeting... Will the Agenda on 'Court Surveillance' Be Adopted Ahead of Yoon's Disciplinary Committee?

The National Judges' Representative Meeting held last January at the Judicial Research and Training Institute in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province / Goyang - Photo by Kim Hyunmin kimhyun81@

[Asia Economy Reporter Seongpil Cho] The Judges' Representative Meeting, where representative judges selected from courts nationwide discuss judicial issues, will be held on the 7th. Attention is focused on whether the document alleging 'court surveillance,' the reason for Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-yeol's disciplinary request, will be formally discussed as an agenda item.

The second half of 2020 Judges' Representative Meeting will be held from 10 a.m. on the day via video conference. Previously, 125 judge representatives gathered at the Judicial Research and Training Institute in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province, but this meeting will be held online due to the rapid increase in COVID-19 cases.

The agenda includes eight items: ▲expanding the scope of judgment disclosure ▲improving judge performance evaluations ▲expanding facilities dedicated to judge appointments ▲improving the planned judge system ▲expanding jurisdiction of single-judge civil cases ▲supporting judges participating in judicial administration ▲expanding the pilot service for viewing electronic copies of criminal trial records ▲expanding and improving treatment of lawyers dedicated to mediation. The recently controversial court surveillance allegation is not yet on the agenda. However, according to internal regulations, if a judge representative obtains the consent of nine other members, a new agenda item can be proposed. It is reported that judge representatives are already gathering opinions from judges in each court on whether to address this issue at the meeting and, if so, in what direction.

Earlier, some judges requested that the Judges' Representative Meeting express opinions on the court surveillance allegations. Regardless of the court's judgment related to Prosecutor General Yoon's disciplinary case, they argue that this issue, which could significantly affect judicial independence, should be raised. If this issue is addressed at the meeting and the document is defined as surveillance, it is expected to influence the disciplinary committee scheduled for the 10th.

However, there is considerable caution that it may not be appropriate for the representative meeting to express opinions, making it difficult to predict whether the agenda will be proposed. It is reported that Supreme Court judicial researchers and some judges recently voiced concerns on the internal network that "the representative meeting's opinions could be politically exploited." The results of the representative meeting's discussions are expected to be disclosed late in the afternoon on the day.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.