Yoon to Nominate Supreme Court Chief Justice Candidate Next Week... Accelerating Verification Process

Concerns Over Prolonged Vacancy of Chief Justice Position
Cho Hee-dae and Oh Seok-jun Among Leading Candidates

President Yoon Suk-yeol is expected to nominate a candidate for the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court next week. The Presidential Office expressed concern on the 3rd that the Supreme Court chief justice position has been vacant for over 40 days and plans to speed up the candidate screening process.

A Presidential Office official told Asia Economy on the same day when asked about the "timing of the announcement of the Supreme Court Chief Justice candidate," "We are focusing on the final verification of the candidate pool for the Chief Justice, and we will try to make the nomination as early as next week."

The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court is appointed by the President after the nominee goes through a confirmation hearing in the National Assembly and a vote in the plenary session. After the nomination consent bill for candidate Lee Gyun-yong was rejected last month on the 6th in the National Assembly plenary session led by the opposition parties, the Presidential Office has been proceeding with the appointment process again.

Among the ruling party and legal circles, former Supreme Court Justice Cho Hee-dae (66, Judicial Research and Training Institute class 13) and Supreme Court Justice Oh Seok-jun (61, class 19), both recommended by the Korean Bar Association, are being strongly mentioned as leading candidates. Some also mention Kang Min-gu (65, class 14), Chief Judge of the Seoul High Court, Hong Seung-myeon (59, class 18), Chief Judge of the Seoul High Court, and Jung Young-hwan (63, class 15), a professor at Korea University Law School and president of the Korean Law Professors Association.

In the case of former Justice Cho and Justice Oh, since they have previously undergone confirmation hearings in the National Assembly when appointed as Supreme Court justices, it is expected that passing the nomination consent bill in the National Assembly may be easier.

President Yoon Suk-yeol is delivering the 2024 budget address at the plenary session of the National Assembly in Yeouido, Seoul, on the 31st. Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@.

However, former Justice Cho may not be able to complete the full six-year term due to the mandatory retirement age of 70 for the Chief Justice, and Justice Oh may face opposition from the opposition parties due to his close relationship with President Yoon, with whom he prepared for the judicial examination together.

The Presidential Office is accelerating the verification process for the Chief Justice as concerns arise over the vacancy of the Chief Justice position and the possible vacancy of the Constitutional Court Chief Justice position. This is because the heads of the two major judicial institutions should not remain vacant for an extended period. With the retirement of current Constitutional Court Chief Justice Yoo Nam-seok just a week away, the National Assembly has yet to finalize the schedule for the confirmation hearing of candidate Lee Jong-seok for the Constitutional Court Chief Justice.

The official said, "Once the verification of the (Chief Justice) candidate is complete, President Yoon is expected to promptly nominate and announce the candidate."

When President Yoon visited the National Assembly on the 31st of last month to deliver the policy speech on next year’s budget, the five key figures who attended the pre-meeting reportedly urged Speaker Kim Jin-pyo and the floor leaders of both ruling and opposition parties in unison, saying, "We hope the National Assembly cooperates well so that the vacancies of the Chief Justice and the Constitutional Court Chief Justice do not last long."

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