"Guaranteeing the Right to a Speedy Trial"... Incheon High Court Attraction Committee Begins Full-Scale Activities

To establish a High Court in Incheon, over 100 experts from the public, legal, industrial, academic, and research sectors have formed the 'Incheon High Court Attraction Promotion Committee' and begun full-scale activities.

According to Incheon City on the 3rd, the committee aims to establish a High Court in Incheon, one of the six metropolitan cities where only Incheon and Ulsan currently lack such courts. The committee plans to carry out various activities to secure judicial fundamental rights for Incheon citizens, such as the right to receive prompt trials.

The committee is a purely civilian organization voluntarily formed by more than 100 experts from the public, legal, industrial, academic, and research sectors, including co-chairs Ahn Gwan-ju, president of the Incheon Bar Association, and Hwang Gyu-cheol, president of the Incheon Love Movement Citizens' Council.

Going forward, the committee plans to serve as an advisory body related to attracting the Seoul High Court, hold forums and meetings, visit the National Assembly and related institutions for promotional activities, and conduct a citywide petition campaign aiming for one million signatures.

Regarding the establishment of the Incheon High Court, the partial amendment to the "Act on the Establishment and Jurisdiction of Courts of Various Levels," proposed in 2020 by Democratic Party lawmakers Shin Dong-geun (Incheon Seo-gu Eul) and Kim Gyo-heung (Incheon Seo-gu Gap), is currently pending in the National Assembly's Legislation and Judiciary Committee. The committee intends to urge the passage of this bill in the 21st National Assembly.

Incheon City Hall Exterior View

Currently, among metropolitan cities, only Incheon and Ulsan lack a High Court. In March 2019, the Seoul High Court Incheon Branch Court was opened, but it only has civil and family divisions. Therefore, Incheon citizens must travel an average of 3 to 4 hours to Seoul High Court to attend administrative and criminal appeals, causing significant inconvenience.

Moreover, as of 2020, the Seoul High Court has the largest jurisdictional area among all High Courts and a jurisdictional population of 18.94 million, more than twice that of the second-largest Suwon High Court. The number of cases is 20,659, accounting for over 60% of the 34,012 main lawsuits nationwide, resulting in an overloaded workload.

This situation causes delays and inefficiencies in trials and may restrict Incheon citizens' right to a fair trial, highlighting the need to decentralize judicial services from the Seoul High Court.

An Incheon city official stated, "If a High Court is established in Incheon, citizens of neighboring areas such as Gimpo and Bucheon in Gyeonggi Province can also expect qualitative improvements in judicial services. The city plans to actively support the committee so that it can carry out full-scale citywide promotional activities."

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