Cho Hee-dae Judiciary's First Nationwide Court Presidents Meeting... Discussion on Measures to Improve Trial Delays and Court President Recommendation System

All 37 Members Attend National Court Presidents Meeting
Cho Hee-dae: "Exploring Multiple Solutions to Trial Delays"

The first nationwide meeting of court presidents since Chief Justice Cho Hee-dae's inauguration was held on the 15th. Judicial administrative heads from a total of 37 courts, including six high courts, the Patent Court, 18 district courts, and specialized courts such as administrative, family, and bankruptcy courts, gathered at the Supreme Court building in Seocho-gu, Seoul, from 2 to 6 p.m. that day.

The meeting discussed the severely worsened issue of trial delays under the previous Chief Justice Kim Myung-soo administration. Additionally, opinions were exchanged on improvement measures for various agenda items affecting judicial administration and trial work, including the court president recommendation system. It was reported that the meeting was conducted in a manner where the Court Administration Office listened to the opinions of the court presidents rather than reaching a conclusion.

Chief Justice Cho Hee-dae is delivering a greeting at the National Court Presidents' Meeting held on the 15th at the Supreme Court auditorium in Seocho-gu, Seoul.
[Photo by Yonhap News]

The Court Administration Office stated, "Court presidents shared the status of the backlog of long-term unresolved cases and exchanged views on the necessity for court presidents to play a leading and central role in handling long-term unresolved cases, including the division of work related to processing such cases."

The idea that court presidents take responsibility for long-term unresolved cases is Chief Justice Cho's initiative. The intention is for Supreme Court justices, high court presidents, and district court presidents to take charge of trials to resolve trial delays and, furthermore, to solve unresolved cases.

Improvement measures for the court president candidate recommendation system were also discussed. The recommendation system was introduced during former Chief Justice Kim Myung-soo’s tenure as part of judicial reforms aimed at decentralizing the monarchic judicial administrative authority. However, it has been criticized for degenerating into a "popularity vote," causing court presidents to be cautious of frontline judges and failing to encourage prompt trial processing. Nonetheless, some incumbent judges have expressed on the court’s internal network (CourtNet) that this is not the fundamental cause of trial delays. Currently, options under consideration include a nationwide recommendation system where the Chief Justice directly appoints court presidents and granting high court chief judges the qualification to become district court presidents.

Before the meeting began, Chief Justice Cho said, "We must explore various measures to solve the greatest challenge facing the judiciary, which is trial delays," and urged, "Especially, court presidents should take the lead in the judiciary’s efforts to implement prompt trials." He added, "In the context of the contemporary trend of balancing work and family life, it is necessary to create a safe and happy court environment where all court members can focus on trials and related work."

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