Cheon Dae-yeop, Director of the National Court Administration: "If Four-Tier Court System Becomes Default, It Will Lead to Litigation Hell" [2025 Audit]

Considering Korea's High Appeal Rate, Judicial Review Reform Would Fail to Resolve Disputes

Yonhap News Agency

Chun Dae-yeob, Chief Justice of the National Court Administration, commented on the Democratic Party's push to introduce the appeal to the Constitutional Court (a four-tier court system), stating, "If the Constitutional Court is allowed to selectively review all cases, given the high appeal rate among Korean citizens, the four-tier court system would inevitably become the default."

On October 30, during a comprehensive audit by the Legislation and Judiciary Committee, Chun Dae-yeob emphasized, "This is an issue that must be approached with caution in Korea, where the judiciary is based on the sovereignty of the people," adding, "If this happens, as a ruling party lawmaker mentioned previously, it will inevitably lead to a litigation hell."

Regarding the crime of judicial distortion, he said, "Ultimately, this means judging the judges. This will result in a significant increase in complaints and accusations, leading to unlimited retrials and re-retrials. As complaints and accusations surge, court rulings will no longer resolve disputes but instead mark the beginning of new conflicts, undermining social cohesion."

On the issue of increasing the number of Supreme Court justices, he stated, "Since judges from the courts of fact would have to be brought in as research judges, the trial capabilities of the lower courts would be weakened, and the third trial would become another court of fact. This would lead to high costs and low efficiency."

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