'Three-Way Race' for Next Chief Judge Candidate at Seoul Central District Court Following 'Introduction of Candidate Recommendation System'

[Asia Economy Reporter Kwangho Lee] As the 'Court Chief Judge Candidate Recommendation System,' where judges directly recommend court chief judges, is introduced for the first time next year, the next chief judge candidates for the Seoul Central District Court have been narrowed down to three. Attention is focused on what the outcome will be.

A Seoul Central District Court official announced on the 24th that the candidates recommended for the next chief judge are Kim Jeongjung (56, Judicial Research and Training Institute Class 26), Senior Civil Judge of the 2nd Division; Ban Jeongwoo (54, Class 23), Chief Judge; and Song Kyunggeun (58, Class 22), Senior Civil Judge of the 1st Division. Previously, from the 17th to the 21st of this month, judges were asked to nominate candidates among judges with over 22 years of legal experience and more than 10 years of judicial service, and the results were compiled.

The court plans to receive statements of opinion from the nominated judges between the 25th and 28th of this month, then disclose information about them to other judges and conduct electronic voting from December 1 to 5. Each judge will cast one vote.

The Seoul Central District Court Chief Judge Recommendation Committee will recommend two or more candidates based on the number of votes by December 15, and the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court must appoint one of the recommended candidates as the chief judge.

The court chief judge candidate recommendation system is a system where colleagues recommend candidates for the chief judge position. This system was introduced and promoted as a priority by Chief Justice Kim Myeongsoo in response to ongoing criticism that the centralized judicial personnel system has excessively expanded the Supreme Court Chief Justice's personnel authority.

Since the introduction of the recommendation system, 17 recommendations have been made at 13 district courts nationwide from 2019 to this year. Next year, except for the local family courts and the Incheon District Court, where the chief judge's term remains, chief judges who have gone through the recommendation system will serve at all 20 district courts.

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