Former Chief Justice Yoon Kwan's Funeral Held as 'Court Chief'... Funeral Committee Chair Kim Sang-hwan, Director of Court Administration Office

Former Director Yoon Served as Funeral Committee Member for Supreme Court Justices and Administrative Office Executives During Tenure
After Memorial Service on the 16th, Passing Through Supreme Court to Be Buried at National Daejeon National Cemetery

Former Chief Justice Yoon Kwan. / Provided by the Court Administration Office

[Asia Economy Reporter Heo Kyung-jun] The funeral of former Chief Justice Yoon Kwan will be held as a court funeral. The funeral committee chairman will be Kim Sang-hwan, the head of the Court Administration Office.

On the 15th, the Supreme Court's Court Administration Office announced that the funeral of former Chief Justice Yoon, with Director Kim as the funeral committee chairman, will be conducted as a court funeral. The funeral advisory committee is composed of former Chief Justices, former Constitutional Court Presidents, and former Prime Ministers.

The funeral committee members include former Supreme Court Justices during Yoon’s tenure, executives of the Court Administration Office, current Supreme Court Justices, current High Court Presidents, and the President of the Korean Bar Association. Executive committee members are heads of departments and bureaus of the Court Administration Office.

The memorial service will be held on the 16th at the funeral hall of Sinchon Severance Hospital, the mortuary, and will proceed through the Supreme Court to the National Daejeon National Cemetery for the burial ceremony.

Born in 1935 in Haenam, Jeollanam-do, former Chief Justice Yoon graduated from Gwangju High School and Yonsei University’s Department of Law. He passed the 10th Higher Civil Service Examination in the judicial category in 1958 and entered the legal profession in 1962.

He served as presiding judge at Seoul Civil Court, Criminal Court, Gwangju High Court, and Seoul High Court, as well as chief judge of Cheongju and Jeonju District Courts. In 1988, he became a Supreme Court Justice and served as the 9th Chairman of the Central Election Commission (1989?1993) and the 12th Chief Justice of the Supreme Court (1993?1999).

In his first year in office, former Chief Justice Yoon formed the Judicial System Development Committee to pursue judicial reform. One of the most notable achievements was the introduction of the warrant review system (pre-detention suspect hearing), implemented in 1997. Before this system, judges decided whether to issue arrest warrants based solely on investigation records.

After retirement, he was appointed as a distinguished professor and honorary president at Youngsan University in 2000 and served as chairman of the Youngsan Legal Culture Foundation from 2004.

His honors include the Order of Service Merit, Blue Stripes (1999) and the Order of Civil Merit, Mugunghwa Medal (2015). He also received the Proud Yonsei Alumni Award (1994) and the Proud Haenam Yoon Clan Award (2000). He authored the book "New Legal Theory."

Survived by his wife Oh Hyun, sons Yoon Joon (President of Gwangju High Court) and Yoon Young-shin (Editorial Writer at Chosun Ilbo), and younger brother Yoon Jeon (lawyer), among others.

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