Court Personnel Season Begins... Attention on Key Case Bench Changes

This Week's Court Presidents and Chief Judges Followed by Nationwide Judicial Personnel Changes Next Month
Uncertainty Over Current Panel's Verdict on Lee Jae-myung-Related Cases Including Daejangdong
Supreme Court Ponders Solutions to Trial Delays

The trials of major cases that sparked social controversies, including the 'Daejang-dong Corruption Allegation Case,' are likely to be delayed again due to the court personnel reshuffle season. As 'trial delays' have been pointed out as a chronic problem every year, the Supreme Court has decided to promote a plan to extend the judges' case assignment period by one year starting this year.

According to the legal community on the 24th, the Supreme Court plans to announce the regular personnel appointments for district court chief judges and judges below the chief judge level nationwide on the 2nd of next month, following this week's appointments of court presidents, high court chief judges, and judges. For those transferred to other courts, the start date at the new post will be the 19th of next month. Even if not transferred, changes in case assignments within the court may alter the composition of the trial panels previously in charge.

For example, it is uncertain whether the current trial panel can deliver a verdict in the case involving Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, concerning breach of trust and bribery allegations related to Daejang-dong, Wirye, Baekhyeon-dong, and Seongnam FC. Judge Lee Jong-chan, who is the presiding judge of this case in the Criminal Division 33 of the Seoul Central District Court, has served there for two years and is subject to personnel changes in February. Judge Lee is also presiding over the case involving former special prosecutor Park Young-soo's 'Daejang-dong 5 Billion Club' allegations. Since the presiding judge plays a leading role in case hearings and drafting judgments, a change of the presiding judge during the trial inevitably prolongs the time until a verdict is reached.

The Criminal Division 22 of the Seoul Central District Court, which handles the 'mainstream' Daejang-dong trial involving private developers such as Kim Man-bae, is likely to see changes in both the chief judge and the presiding judge. Chief Judge Lee Jun-cheol and Presiding Judge Kim Yong-seok have both completed two years and are subject to personnel changes. The same applies to Chief Judge Kim Jeong-gon, who is presiding over the case against former Democratic Party leader Song Young-gil, accused of distributing money envelopes during the Democratic Party leadership election.

However, even though there is a principle of 'two years for chief judges and one year for associate judges,' exceptions may be made to retain judges for the continuity of trials or court circumstances, so replacements are not guaranteed. A court official said, "It depends on how the case assignment committee decides after the personnel changes."

Although court personnel appointments are regularly conducted around this time every year, concerns about trial delays have been growing both inside and outside the courts, especially as some trials last several years in the first instance. Consequently, attention is focused each year on whether trial panels for major cases will be changed. Notably, the recent wave of judges resigning en masse is also affecting trials.

A representative example is Judge Kang Kyu-tae of the Seoul Central District Court, who recently abruptly submitted his resignation while presiding over Lee Jae-myung's public official election law violation case. Election law violation cases must be expedited and, in the first instance, the Public Official Election Act stipulates that a verdict must be delivered within six months from the date of indictment. However, this case, filed in September 2022, has been ongoing for a full year and four months. With the presiding judge resigning and the possibility of two other associate judges being replaced, it has effectively become impossible to deliver a verdict before the general election, drawing criticism of 'irresponsibility' from inside and outside the court.

This year is especially significant as it is the year of the 22nd National Assembly general election. The Seoul Southern District Court, which has jurisdiction over Yeongdeungpo-gu where the National Assembly is located, is handling several cases involving current lawmakers, and these trials are also likely to be delayed due to the personnel reshuffle season.

Chief Judge Yoon Chan-young of the Seoul Southern District Court, who is handling the case of former Star Mobility chairman Kim Bong-hyun, the so-called 'Lime Scandal mastermind,' accused of delivering illegal political funds to Democratic Party lawmakers Ki Dong-min and Lee Su-jin, is subject to case assignment changes this time and is expected to be replaced. Judge Hwang Kyung-hwan, presiding over the trial concerning sexual harassment allegations against a staff member of Democratic Party lawmaker Park Wan-joo, is also subject to case assignment changes.

In some cases, where the volume of material to be reviewed is vast and the first-instance trial has lasted several years, the verdict date was only recently set ahead of this court personnel reshuffle. The 'Judicial Farming Scandal' case involving former Supreme Court Chief Justice Yang Sung-tae, which was filed in February 2019 and has dragged on for five years, is scheduled for a first-instance verdict on the 26th. The case against Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong for violating the Capital Markets Act was originally scheduled for a verdict on the same day but has been postponed to the 5th of next month. This will be the first-instance conclusion after three years and five months since the indictment in September 2020.

Meanwhile, to address the issue of trial delays, the Supreme Court has initiated a revision of regulations to extend the minimum case assignment period for judges: from two to three years for chief judges and from one to two years for judges who are not chief judges. This aims to mitigate the side effects of frequent changes in trial panels that prolong trials.

This has been a point continuously emphasized by Supreme Court Chief Justice Cho Hee-dae since his inauguration. Recently, with the appointment of new Court Administration Office Chief Cheon Dae-yeop, the related regulations were promptly revised. However, the revised regulations will be implemented immediately but will not be applied retroactively to existing trial panels. A Supreme Court official stated, "The revised regulations will apply to trial panels newly assigned case responsibilities this time."

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