Kim Hyungdu Appointed Acting President of Constitutional Court... Returns to Seven-Member System

The Most Senior Among Current Justices
Interim Leadership Until the New President Nominates and Appoints Successors

With the retirement of former acting President of the Constitutional Court Moon Hyungbae, Justice Kim Hyungdu (19th class of the Judicial Research and Training Institute) will assume the role of acting president.

On April 21, the Constitutional Court announced that it held a meeting of justices at 10 a.m. and elected Justice Kim as the acting president. Based on the date of appointment, Acting President Kim is the most senior among the current justices.

Acting President Kim graduated from Seoul National University with a degree in law and was appointed as a judge at the Uijeongbu Branch of the Seoul District Court in 1993. He has presided over a variety of cases in frontline courts, serving as chief judge of the warrant division, chief judge of the criminal division, and senior chief judge of the civil division at the Seoul Central District Court, as well as a research judge at the Supreme Court, chief judge at the Patent Court, and chief judge at the Seoul High Court. In addition to his judicial duties, he has extensive experience in judicial administration and policy research, having served as judicial policy research officer and litigation system research judge at the National Court Administration, judicial policy officer, head of the Gangneung Branch of the Chuncheon District Court, senior research fellow at the Judicial Policy Research Institute, and deputy director of the National Court Administration. He has also worked as a visiting researcher at the University of Tokyo in Japan and Columbia University in the United States.

Acting President Kim was appointed as a Constitutional Court justice in March 2023 by former Chief Justice Kim Myeongsu. He is considered to have a centrist orientation. During the tenure of progressive Chief Justice Lee Yonghoon, he served as a judicial policy officer at the National Court Administration and was a key member of judicial reform, which included participation from both the legal community and academia. Under the conservative Chief Justice Yang Seungtae, he was promoted to chief judge at the High Court, and during the progressive Kim Myeongsu administration, he supported various reform initiatives as deputy director of the National Court Administration.

The Constitutional Court returned to a seven-member system following the retirement of Acting President Moon and Justice Lee Miseon on April 18. After operating as a six-member court starting October 17, 2024, the court expanded to eight members with the appointments of Justices Cho Hanchang and Jung Gyesun on January 1, 2025, and reached its full complement of nine justices with the appointment of Justice Ma Eunhyeok on April 9, 2025, but this did not last long. Until the new president, to be elected in the June 3, 2025 presidential election, nominates and appoints successor justices, the seven-member system is expected to continue.

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