First Chairperson from Non-Uri Law and Human Rights Law Research Association Elected After Permanent Establishment of Judges' Representative Meeting

Speaker and Deputy Speaker Elected from Groups Other Than 'Progressive' Judges
Hwang Seong-gwang, Chief Judge of Uijeongbu District Court, Appointed to Supreme Court Nomination Committee

Park Won-gyu, Chief Judge of the Daejeon District Court (Judicial Research and Training Institute Class 26), was elected as the chairperson of the National Judges' Representative Meeting. This is the first time that a judge affiliated with progressive judge groups such as Uri-beop Research Association or the International Human Rights Law Research Association has not been elected as the chairperson of the Judges' Representative Meeting. Since the Judges' Representative Meeting was formalized as a permanent organization in 2018, all chairpersons have come from these two research associations.

On the 10th, Chief Justice Kim Myeong-su is delivering a greeting at the National Judges' Representative Meeting held at the Judicial Research and Training Institute in Goyang-si, Gyeonggi-do. / Provided by the Court Administration Office.

On the 10th, the National Judges' Representative Meeting held a regular meeting at the Judicial Research and Training Institute in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province, and elected Chief Judge Park and Judge Kim Kyu-dong of the Seoul High Court (Class 34) as chairperson and vice-chairperson, respectively.

During the meeting, a report was given on the recent court network outage incident that occurred last month. The Supreme Court was conducting data migration work in line with the opening of the Suwon and Busan Rehabilitation Courts last month, but errors occurred, causing the suspension of trial operations and the electronic litigation system. The Supreme Court held the Court Administration Office's Information Management Bureau chief accountable and dismissed him, and an audit is currently underway by the Supreme Court's Ethics Audit Office.

The Judges' Representative Meeting inquired of the judicial administration officials about ▲ the specific causes of the network outage and ▲ the measures established to prevent recurrence of such outages.

The judicial administration officials explained, "The work was delayed because the number of data transfers was not extracted by court, administrator access was blocked during the work due to insufficient preparation, and there were several errors such as lack of workspace. Although the work time was estimated and preparations were made by referring to the past case of the Seoul Rehabilitation Court, we failed to secure sufficient buffer time for unexpected errors during the work."

Regarding recurrence prevention measures, they stated, "Due to budget constraints, we conducted outsourcing projects, but recent increases in labor costs made it difficult to secure and retain highly skilled technical personnel. There has been no change in the IT budget over the past five years, but we will strive to secure an appropriate budget going forward."

Additionally, the meeting resolved to recommend Chief Judge Hwang Seong-kwang of the Uijeongbu District Court (Class 34) as a member of the Supreme Court Justice Nomination Committee. The nomination committee consists of senior Supreme Court justices, the head of the Court Administration Office, the Minister of Justice, the President of the Korean Bar Association, the President of the Korean Association of Law Professors, the Chairperson of the Council of Law Schools, one judge, and three external legal professionals. The judge included in the committee is appointed based on the recommendation of the Judges' Representative Meeting.

With Supreme Court Justices Cho Jae-yeon and Park Jung-hwa retiring in July, the process of selecting their successors has begun. The Supreme Court is accepting nominations for candidates to replace the two justices until the 14th of this month.

At the meeting, a proposal was submitted stating that "when enacting or amending Supreme Court regulations and trial precedents, opinions must be requested from the National Judges' Representative Meeting prior to legislative notice." During the discussion, an amendment was proposed on-site to recommend that "the Court Administration Office request opinions from the National Judges' Representative Meeting when enacting or amending important Supreme Court regulations and trial precedents," and the amendment was approved by vote.

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