Successor to Supreme Court Justice Lee Heung-gu Takes Shape... Candidates to Be Recommended to Chief Justice Jo Hee-de Today

Candidates to succeed Supreme Court Justice Lee Heung-gu (Judicial Research and Training Institute Class 22), who is set to retire next month (September), will be shortlisted today (the 4th).

With the seat of former Supreme Court Justice Roh Tae-ak (Class 16), who retired last March, remaining vacant for five months, attention is focused on whether Chief Justice Jo Hee-de will simultaneously recommend successors for both Supreme Court Justices.

The Supreme Court Justice Recommendation Committee is scheduled to hold a meeting at 2:30 p.m. today to recommend three or more candidates out of the 28 candidates to succeed Supreme Court Justice Lee Heung-gu to Chief Justice Jo.

Following this, Chief Justice Jo will officially recommend one final candidate from among them to President Lee Jae-myung.

The recommendation committee is chaired by Park Eun-jung, professor emeritus at Ewha Womans University Law School, and consists of six ex-officio members and four non-ex-officio members.

The ex-officio members are Senior Supreme Court Justice Lee Heung-gu, Minister of Justice Jung Sung-ho, President of the Korean Bar Association Kim Jung-wook, President of the Korean Association of Law Professors Choi Bong-kyeong, Chairperson of the Korea Law School Association Hong Dae-shik, and Minister of Court Administration Roh Kyung-pil.

Among the non-ex-officio external members, Lee Soo-hyung, CEO of The Law Times, and Lee Hee-jung, professor at Korea University Law School, were appointed, while Yoo Hyun-young, senior judge at the Yeoju Branch of the Suwon District Court, participates as a judge member who is not a Supreme Court Justice.

The Supreme Court received recommendations for Supreme Court Justice candidates from May 22 to June 2, and previously disclosed 28 candidates (27 judges and 1 professor) out of 87 who agreed to be evaluated by the Recommendation Committee.

The list of 28 includes Senior Judge Lee Jae-kwon (Class 22) of the Seoul High Court, who presided over the remand trial of President Lee Jae-myung for violating the Public Official Election Act and postponed the hearing right before the presidential election, as well as High Court Judge Jung Jae-oh (Class 25) of the Seoul High Court, who acquitted him in the appellate trial.

Both individuals were previously included in the recommendation list for the successor to former Supreme Court Justice Roh Tae-ak.

In addition, Senior Presiding Judge Park Hyung-jun (Class 23) of the Seoul High Court, and Seoul High Court Presiding Judges Goo Hoe-geun (Class 22), Kwon Soon-hyung (Class 22), Kim Sung-soo (Class 24), Lee Kyu-hong (Class 24), Hong Dong-ki (Class 22), and Hwang Jin-goo (Class 24) also agreed to the screening.

Among the court presidents, Kim Moon-kwan (Class 23), president of the Busan District Court; Kim Tae-up (Class 25), president of the Seoul Western District Court; Seol Bum-shik (Class 20), president of the Gwangju High Court; and Jung Joon-young (Class 20), president of the Seoul Bankruptcy Court, were included in the list.

Among female judges, Kim Ye-young (Class 30), senior judge at the Seoul Southern District Court who recently served as chairperson of the National Conference of Judges, and Im Hae-ji (Class 28), president of the Daegu Family Court, made the list.

Among non-judges, Ha Myung-ho (Class 22), professor at Korea University Law School, was the only one to agree to the screening.

Ahead of the retirement of former Supreme Court Justice Roh Tae-ak last March, the recommendation committee formed at the time recommended four candidates in January, including High Court Judges Kim Min-ki and Park Soon-young of the Seoul High Court, Daegu District Court Senior Judge Son Bong-ki, and Seoul High Court Senior Judge Yoon Sung-shik, but Chief Justice Jo's recommendation was not made.

In response to this, observations have been raised that the presidential office and the judiciary failed to narrow their differences regarding the final candidate.

In addition, Supreme Court Justice Roh Kyung-pil took office as the Minister of Court Administration on the 14th of last month, leaving his judicial duties behind.

As delays in trials could worsen if the personnel selection for the successor to Supreme Court Justice Lee Heung-gu is also delayed, attention is focused on whether Chief Justice Jo will simultaneously recommend the successors for both Supreme Court Justices.

(Photo: Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.