New Chief Justice Likely to Be Nominated After the 20th of This Month... 'O Seok-jun and Lee Jong-seok' Are Leading Candidates

Associate Justice Oh Seok-jun and Constitutional Court Justice Lee Jong-seok undergo one round of National Assembly verification
Kim Yong-duk and Kang Il-won take corporate cases... drifting away from leading candidate status

President Yoon Suk-yeol is expected to nominate a new Chief Justice of the Supreme Court after the 20th of this month. It is reported that after completing his visit to the United States to attend the trilateral summit of South Korea, the U.S., and Japan scheduled for the 18th, President Yoon is highly likely to nominate a successor to Chief Justice Kim Myung-soo, whose term ends on the 24th of next month. The Court Administration Office is also preparing for the nomination of the next Chief Justice. The Chief Justice holds the authority over judicial personnel appointments and leads the full bench trials, playing a crucial role in recommending Supreme Court justices and three Constitutional Court justices during a six-year term.

Justice Oh Seok-jun (left) of the Supreme Court and Justice Lee Jong-seok of the Constitutional Court.
[Photo by Asia Economy DB, provided by the Supreme Court]

On the 10th, inside and outside the legal community, Justice Oh Seok-jun (61, Judicial Research and Training Institute class 19) and Constitutional Court Justice Lee Jong-seok (62, class 15) have emerged as leading candidates for the next Chief Justice.

If President Yoon nominates one of these two as the new Chief Justice, he will be able to appoint additional Supreme Court or Constitutional Court justices. This increases the likelihood of appointing justices with moderate to conservative leanings, which would change the landscape of the Supreme Court and the Constitutional Court. Since the current administration began, some Supreme Court and Constitutional Court justices have been replaced, resulting in a diminished progressive influence in both courts.

Initially, former Supreme Court Justice Kim Yong-duk (66, class 12) and former Constitutional Court Justice Kang Il-won (64, class 14) were considered strong candidates for the new Chief Justice. However, Kim’s long tenure at Kim & Chang law firm after retiring as a justice appears to have been a stumbling block. The Chief Justice must preside over the full bench, and if a case involving Kim & Chang comes before the full bench, Kim would have to recuse himself, which could cause complications.

Unlike the smaller panels of the Supreme Court, only the Chief Justice can preside over the full bench, so cases might require appointing a new presiding justice, potentially causing various issues. For these reasons, Kim was reportedly excluded from the leading candidates for the new Chief Justice. Recently, Kim has been listed as legal counsel for bhc in the ongoing Genesis BBQ vs. bhc damages lawsuit, which has lasted over seven years.

Former Justice Kang has been acting as legal counsel for BBQ since May last year and has not yet resigned. Recently, he joined the legal team representing the mother and sister of LG Group Chairman Koo Kwang-mo in a lawsuit seeking restoration of inheritance rights, which has distanced him from consideration as a new Chief Justice candidate.

In this context, Justice Oh and Justice Lee have gained weight as candidates because both have already undergone confirmation hearings and parliamentary scrutiny. In particular, Justice Oh, who prepared for the judicial examination alongside President Yoon, overcame opposition from the opposition party to pass the National Assembly plenary session. Since his appointment, he has dispelled concerns from the opposition about potential bias by presiding over cases similar to the contentious Yellow Envelope Act, ruling in favor of workers.

On the other hand, Justice Lee, who has consistently made conservative decisions despite the opposition party holding a majority in the National Assembly, is viewed as disadvantaged by the legal community. Notably, in March this year, he dissented against the majority decision to dismiss a constitutional review related to the "Complete Removal of Prosecutorial Investigation Rights" law (검수완박), expressing that the law contained unconstitutional elements in both content and procedure. Given that the opposition party pushed the 검수완박 law, they may find it uncomfortable to have Justice Lee as the new Chief Justice.

Constitutionally, the Chief Justice must be appointed by the President with the consent of the National Assembly, so without the cooperation of the opposition party, ascending to the Chief Justice position is impossible.

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