[Anchor]

Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Cho Hee-dae stated today (September 11) that the courts must conduct trials free from undue interference by other state agencies or political powers. This remark is being interpreted as a strong emphasis on judicial independence, coming amid a prolonged standoff between the presidential office and the Supreme Court over the nomination of a Supreme Court justice.

Legal affairs specialist reporter Im Chanjong has the details.

[Reporter]

The Supreme Court held a commemorative ceremony today (September 11) for the 12th Judiciary Day.

Judiciary Day marks South Korea's recovery of judicial sovereignty from the U.S. military government in 1948. The Supreme Court has been hosting annual commemorative ceremonies since 2015.

During his commemorative address, Chief Justice Cho Hee-dae made a pointed remark.

[Cho Hee-dae / Chief Justice of the Supreme Court: The court, as a constitutionally independent state agency, must conduct trials without receiving undue interference or influence from other state agencies, political powers, social forces, or even parties to a lawsuit…]

In the context of explaining judicial independence, he stated that trials must be conducted without undue interference from "other state agencies" or "political powers."

Because the remark was delivered amid intense friction with the presidential office and the ruling party over Supreme Court justice nominations, analysts suggest it was intended to emphasize the independence of the Chief Justice's nomination authority.

In fact, a comparison of today's speech with Chief Justice Cho's past two commemorative addresses shows that the terms "judicial independence" or "independence of judicial power" appeared once in 2024 and three times in 2025, but were mentioned a total of six times today.

However, Chief Justice Cho Hee-dae did not announce any policy regarding the re-nomination of Supreme Court justices today.

He is reportedly deliberating between two options: re-nominating one of the existing candidates as demanded by the presidential office, or re-constituting the Supreme Court Justice Recommendation Committee to receive new candidates.

Within the court, forecasts suggest a high likelihood of re-constituting the recommendation committee. However, since this process is expected to take more than a month, the vacancy on the Supreme Court bench is anticipated to be prolonged, and the ruling bloc's pressure on the judiciary is likely to intensify further.

(Video by Yang Hyun-chul | Video Editing by Choi Jin-hwa)