Sitting High Court Chief Judge Publicly Targets Chief Justice Kim Myung-su's Remarks on 'Good Trial'

Chief Justice Kim Myung-soo is leaving the Supreme Court in Seocho-dong, Seoul, on the afternoon of the 5th.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Seok-jin] A sitting senior judge of the High Court recently publicly targeted Chief Justice Kim Myung-soo through a post titled "The Democratic Republic Does Not Conduct Good Trials Only for a Specific Community," criticizing Kim’s mention of "good trials" in a statement posted on the internal court network.

On the 22nd, Senior Judge Yoon Jong-gu of the Seoul High Court wrote on the court’s internal network, "Judges must be homo genus. Rousseau’s philosophical contribution was to base the general on the democratic republic. Former Justice Ginsburg’s philosophical contribution was to base gender on equality."

He continued, "The translated word 'general' from the perspectives of individualism, universalism, and communitarianism may seem ordinary. However, the original 'general' before translation is philosophical. It is a concept different from particularity and universality. It is also different from uniqueness, absoluteness, and identity."

Senior Judge Yoon pointed out, "The general is a philosophical concept that recognizes individuality and particularity while confirming the commonality and shared characteristics of individuals, and acknowledges the sovereignty and independence of the nation (guk)." He added, "The values of a specific community cannot always be considered general. A democratic republic cannot be formed by community alone."

He emphasized, "The basis of judgment is richtig (correct in German) and recht (right or proper in German). The expression closest to richtig and recht is 'just.' Laws are also expressed as just." He added, "Jeongdang (正當, justness) symbolizes the general of a constitutional state. Trials and judiciary must be right and proper, not merely good for a specific community. This is the point that distinguishes it from legislation."

At the end of his post, Senior Judge Yoon stated, "We must be cautious and wary of trials that are only good for a specific community," explaining, "Because the separation of rightness and goodness can cause the collapse of the general, which is the philosophical foundation of a constitutional state and democratic republic."

Although Senior Judge Yoon did not directly mention Chief Justice Kim in his post, it is interpreted as a critique aimed at Kim’s earlier statement posted on the internal court network about "good trials," made about two weeks after Kim rejected the resignation of Senior Judge Lim Sung-geun of the Busan High Court, citing the ruling party’s impeachment push as the reason, then falsely denying such an incident before an audio recording was released.

On the 19th, Chief Justice Kim posted a statement titled "A Message to the People and Court Family" on the internal court network, declaring, "I will fulfill the constitutional mission entrusted to me to complete judicial reform for 'good trials.'"

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