National Judges' Representative Meeting Adjourned... To Reconvene After Presidential Election

The National Judges' Representative Meeting, which will discuss the controversies that have arisen following the Supreme Court's en banc ruling on the election law violation case involving Lee Jaemyung, the presidential candidate of the Democratic Party of Korea, has decided to reconvene after the presidential election.

Judges are attending the National Judges' Representative Meeting held on the 26th at the Judicial Research and Training Institute in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province. Photo by Dongju Yoon

On the morning of the 26th, the National Judges' Representative Meeting held an extraordinary session at 10 a.m. at the Judicial Research and Training Institute in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province. After about two hours of discussion, the meeting decided to reconvene at a later date. A representative of the Judges' Meeting stated, "We have concluded today's extraordinary session and decided to continue the meeting," adding, "At the reconvened session, we will discuss and vote on the agenda items that have been submitted." The specific date is expected to be set for after the presidential election on June 3. The session will be held entirely online. It has been reported that additional items were submitted on site, bringing the total number of agenda items to five. However, the specific details have not yet been disclosed. No separate votes on the agenda items were held during this session.

This meeting was convened after some judges requested it, claiming a "violation of political neutrality" following the Supreme Court's en banc decision to remand the case of candidate Lee with a guilty verdict by a vote of 10 to 2 among the participating justices. However, the two main agenda items selected are not directly related to this issue. The first agenda item is to "affirm that judicial independence must be absolutely guaranteed in a democratic nation, and to declare efforts to uphold the fairness of trials and the democratic accountability of the judiciary." The second agenda item is to "seriously recognize that unusual procedural developments in a specific case have shaken public trust in the judiciary, which is the foundation of judicial independence, and to express deep concern that holding individuals accountable or changing systems based on individual cases may undermine judicial independence." The National Judges' Representative Meeting convened on this day with the attendance of 88 out of 126 members, including online participants.

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