First National Meeting of Court Presidents Since Launch of 'Jo Hee-dae Court'... Discussion on Abolishing Court President Recommendation System

Chief Justice Cho's First Discussion on 'Judicial Reform Measures'... Focus on Court Presidents' Opinions
Firm Commitment to Long-Standing Unresolved Cases with 'Court Presidents' Involvement... Possible Revision of Court President Recommendation System

The first nationwide meeting of court presidents since Chief Justice Cho Hee-dae's inauguration was held on the 15th, drawing attention to what opinions the court presidents across the country will express regarding the judicial administration policies of the 'Cho Hee-dae Court,' including the abolition of the court president candidate recommendation system.

Chief Justice Cho Hee-dae is delivering his inaugural address at the inauguration ceremony held at the Supreme Court in Seocho-gu, Seoul on the 11th. Photo by Kang Jin-hyung aymsdream@

The nationwide meeting of court presidents took place at 2 p.m. at the Supreme Court. The meeting was chaired by Kim Sang-hwan, Director of the Court Administration Office, and Chief Justice Cho did not attend.

Within the judiciary, there is a prevailing view that based on the discussions from this meeting, Chief Justice Cho’s judicial reform plan will be formulated.

At the meeting, topics such as ▲the court president candidate recommendation system ▲assignment of court presidents to long-term unsolved cases ▲personnel system are expected to be discussed. Chief Justice Cho had previously revealed during the confirmation hearing that he plans to assign court presidents to resolve long-term unsolved cases. At that time, he stated, "We will first specially focus on managing long-term unsolved cases. Previously, court presidents did not preside over trials, but we plan to have court presidents take primary responsibility for trials and prioritize handling long-term unsolved cases."

If Chief Justice Cho’s plan proceeds as intended, the current court president candidate recommendation system will inevitably be abolished. To handle judicial administration duties along with trials of long-term unsolved cases, court presidents must be judges whose capabilities have been verified. For this reason, the court president recommendation system, which is a 'popularity vote' style election rather than capability-based, is seen within the judiciary as incompatible with the judicial policies envisioned by Chief Justice Cho.

The court president candidate recommendation system is a system where judges of each court vote to narrow down candidates for court president to 2-4 people, and the Chief Justice appoints one from among them. Former Chief Justice Kim Myung-soo promoted this system from the beginning of his term, expanding it to 20 district courts nationwide earlier this year.

A presiding judge A at the Seoul Central District Court said, "Since the introduction of the court president recommendation system, I have seen several instances where incomprehensible people were appointed as court presidents," adding, "Assigning court presidents to long-term unsolved cases should be interpreted as a message that those who are outstanding in legal interpretation and work ability will be appointed as court presidents."

However, if Chief Justice Cho pushes forward judicial reform work such as unilaterally abolishing the court president candidate recommendation system, it cannot be ruled out that internal resistance may arise. Since the court president candidate recommendation system was promoted through the resolution of the National Judges' Conference, abolishing it by the Chief Justice’s authority alone could lead to a crisis within the judiciary.

Nonetheless, due to the lack of time in this personnel matter, there is a prevailing atmosphere that proceeding with the recommendation procedure is realistically difficult, so no significant objections are expected.

In the regular personnel reshuffle scheduled for February next year, a total of seven court presidents, including those of the Seoul Administrative Court and Seoul Eastern District Court, must be replaced after completing their two-year terms. However, currently, it is impossible to conduct personnel appointments through the court president candidate recommendation system. The prolonged vacancy of the Chief Justice position has prevented discussions on personnel, and as a result, the recommendation procedure for court presidents subject to next year’s regular personnel reshuffle has not been carried out.

Ultimately, if Chief Justice Cho intends to revise the personnel system based on the nationwide meeting of court presidents, it seems necessary to seek the consent of judges through bodies such as the National Judges' Conference.

A Supreme Court official said, "The abolition of the court president candidate recommendation system is understood to be one of several options," adding, "It does not seem to be an issue that can be resolved in a short period. After listening to various opinions, a final decision will be made."

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