Supreme Court Begins Selection Process for Successor to Justice Lee Heunggu

Selection Process for Lee Heunggu's Successor Begins
Amid Delay in Nominating Noh Tae-ak's Replacement

The Supreme Court is now accepting nominations for the successor to Justice Lee Heunggu (age 63, 22nd Judicial Research and Training Institute class), whose six-year term ends in September. This comes as another Supreme Court justice selection process begins while one seat remains vacant, since Chief Justice Cho Hee-dae has not yet recommended a replacement for former Justice Noh Tae-ak, who retired in March.

According to the legal community on May 18, under the Court Organization Act, the recommendation committee consists of six ex officio members (the senior Supreme Court justice, the Chief Justice of the National Court Administration, the Minister of Justice, the President of the Korean Bar Association, the President of the Korean Law Professors Association, and the President of the Law School Deans Association), one judge who is not a Supreme Court justice, and three individuals who do not hold a lawyer's license but possess academic expertise, moral integrity, and extensive professional experience in various fields, making a total of four non-ex officio members.

After the nomination period ends, the Supreme Court will release the academic background, major career milestones, assets, and military service records of nominated candidates who have agreed to the review, along with a list of those publicly disclosed, and will collect a wide range of public opinions on these individuals for a certain period. The Supreme Court then plans to request the chairperson of the recommendation committee to convene a meeting, with the related schedule to be determined at a later date.

A Supreme Court official stated, "The nomination process for Supreme Court justices will proceed transparently, gathering a wide range of opinions from across society," and added, "We hope that a suitable candidate will be nominated who not only upholds the Constitution and faithfully protects the fundamental rights of the people, but also serves as a final safeguard for social justice and human rights."

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