"Island Residents No Longer Need to Go to Seoul for Trials..."

Published 02 Dec.2024 17:46(KST)

Interview with Jo Yong-ju, Special Committee Chair for Hosting the Incheon High Court

"The establishment of the Incheon High Court is an essential condition to protect the judicial rights of citizens."

Legal Newspaper

Jo Yong-ju (52, Judicial Research and Training Institute class 26), Special Committee Chair for Attracting the Incheon High Court at the Incheon Bar Association, said this in an interview with Law Times on the 29th. Attorney Jo is the lead attorney at the law firm Anda and has been involved since the Incheon High Court Attraction Committee was launched in 2019.

The following is a Q&A.

What activities did you undertake to establish the High Court?

We held seven seminars focused on the National Assembly, Incheon City Council, and Inha University Law School to attract the Incheon High Court. In addition, we protested more than 20 times in front of the National Assembly and conducted a one million signature campaign, working intensely for about six years.

What is the necessity of attracting the Incheon High Court?

Once the Incheon High Court is established, it will have jurisdiction over Incheon City and parts of Gyeonggi Province including Bucheon and Gimpo, allowing approximately 4.3 million citizens to receive better legal services. In fact, as of last year, the number of appellate cases per 100,000 people in Incheon was 58.9, the second highest nationwide. This figure is higher than Daegu or Daejeon, where high courts are already established. Based on the amount in controversy, Incheon, located in the metropolitan area, has real estate prices and claim amounts about twice as high as Daegu and Daejeon.

What difficulties have citizens faced?

Citizens have to travel to the Seoul High Court located in Seocho-gu, Seoul, which imposes significant time and financial burdens. Especially since Incheon has many island areas, judicial accessibility is markedly low. Also, in many cases, regional characteristics are not adequately reflected during trials. Administrative cases require consideration of regional characteristics, and Incheon has many development-related issues. If trials are held in Seoul, the unique development circumstances of Incheon may not be sufficiently considered, or trials may be delayed. Ultimately, Incheon citizens suffer practical harm due to the absence of a high court.

You achieved this through bipartisan agreement. What is the significance?

In particular, the success of the one million signature campaign reflects that one-third of Incheon’s approximately 3 million population participated. This means that most voters sympathized with this issue. I believe this long-standing project was made possible thanks to the combined efforts of lawmakers from both ruling and opposition parties.