National Court Presidents Meeting... "'Act on the Number of Judges in Courts at All Levels' Amendment Must Be Passed Quickly"

Chief judges nationwide agreed that the amended law to gradually increase the number of judges in order to resolve trial delays must be promptly passed.

On the 7th, the Supreme Court held a nationwide chief judges meeting at Resom Forest in Jecheon, Chungbuk, attended by a total of 42 people including Cheon Dae-yeop, Director of the Court Administration Office, and chief judges of courts at various levels. The meeting will be held over two days until the 8th.

National Conference of Court Presidents held on the 7th at Resom Forest in Jecheon, Chungbuk. Photo by the Supreme Court.

In his opening remarks, Director Cheon humbly accepted the public’s demand for swift trials and urged diligent efforts to restore public trust, stating that efforts will be made to create courts where work and family coexist and that are healthy and happy.

The meeting proceeded with reports on major tasks and discussions on key issues facing the courts.

In particular, the nationwide chief judges discussed the "Plan to Expand the Number of Judges to Resolve Trial Delays."

The chief judges shared the background for promoting the expansion of the number of judges and the progress of the amendment to the Judges’ Quota Act, and all agreed that since there is a high possibility of considerable difficulties in the trial field, such as having to reduce the number of trial panels due to a shortage of judges in the future, the prompt passage of the "Judges’ Quota Act for Courts at Various Levels," currently under review in the National Assembly, is necessary, the Supreme Court reported.

Currently, a partial amendment bill to the Judges’ Quota Act for Courts at Various Levels, which proposes increasing the number of judges from 3,214 to 3,584 over five years from 2023 to 2027?adding 50 judges in 2023, 80 in 2024, 70 in 2025, 80 in 2026, and 90 in 2027?has been pending in the National Assembly for over a year since its submission in December 2022.

In the report on major tasks and current issues on that day, the following were covered: ▲ Measures to prepare for the implementation of the 2025 civil appeal brief submission system aimed at shortening the appeal trial period and expediting trials ▲ Improvement plans for the system to suspend acceptance of cases involving abuse of rights ▲ Protective measures to prevent leakage of personal information in civil litigation ▲ Practical improvement plans following the enforcement of the amended Sexual Violence Punishment Act and Stalking Punishment Act ▲ Improvement plans for the operation of the criminal deposit special system, including ex officio issuance of certificates proving the identity of depositors and notification procedures for criminal deposits ▲ Long-term promotion of judicial work distribution to realize swift and fair trials ▲ Policies to enhance judicial accessibility for socially vulnerable groups such as persons with disabilities ▲ Strengthening judicial information security and personal information protection through inspection of the judicial information system status ▲ Progress in the next-generation electronic litigation and criminal electronic litigation system construction project and expansion of electronic copy record viewing services in criminal litigation, among various reports on trial work and judicial administration matters.

Afterwards, the chief judges discussed the first day’s topic, "Improvement Measures for the Proper Establishment of Work Distribution."

The chief judges shared the current status of work distribution in courts at various levels and exchanged diverse opinions on difficulties faced by chief judges in handling trial work and challenges related to the prolonged work distribution period.

Then, the discussion continued on the second topic, "Utilization Measures of Judicial Statistics for Swift and Fair Trials."

The chief judges conducted in-depth discussions on ways to utilize the judicial statistics system for efficient management of trial affairs by chief judges and on improvements related to the use of judicial statistics.

On the second day of the meeting, the 8th, a discussion on "Judicial Information Systems and Artificial Intelligence (AI) Information Technology" is scheduled to take place.

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