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Judges come under fire for leftist influence

Published: 21 Jan. 2010, 20:51

Members of conservative civic groups hold a rally to condemn Chief Justice Lee Yong-hoon and liberal-leaning judges yesterday in front of the Seoul Central District Court in southern Seoul.[YONHAP]

As the nation’s judiciary continues to take a pounding for allegedly handing down “left-leaning” verdicts, an in-house group of judges with liberal political inclinations has come under the microscope.

Representatives of the conservative ruling Grand National Party have argued the Society for Research on Our Law should fold.

They said the group has had undue influence on personnel moves and verdicts across regional courts. Critics also believe the society is no different than the defunct Hanahoe, a clique of influential military officers from the 1960s to 1980s.

Former Presidents Chun Doo Hwan and Roh Tae-woo, both graduates of the Korea Military Academy, were among Hanahoe’s founding members.

Before it was forced to shut down in 1993 under the Kim Young-sam administration, Hanahoe was considered nearly as powerful as the official chain of command.

The current society was established in 1988 during the Roh Tae-woo government.

About 430 judges protested Roh’s decision to retain Supreme Court Chief Justice Kim Yong-chul from the previous Chun regime.

According to Kim Jong-hoon, former chief secretary of the Supreme Court and a founding member, he and several of his contemporaries agreed to gather signatures to show their disapproval of Kim’s extended tenure at the Supreme Court.

“Our campaign gave us the confidence and the momentum to form a faction within the judiciary to fight for democracy,” Kim Jong-hoon wrote on the society’s home page. Kim Yong-chul stepped down as the chief justice and was succeeded by Lee Il-kyu.

The society today is said to have about 130 members. Some of its former members have been appointed to key posts.

Park Si-hwan, who gave the group its current name, became a Supreme Court justice during the liberal Roh Moo-hyun government. Kang Kum-sill, another former member, served as justice minister for Roh.

These moves have given ammunition to critics that the group has always been a politically-charged faction.

But Moon Hyung-bae, former head of the society, said yesterday that the group had been around since the conservative Roh Tae-woo government and even some former GNP lawmakers had been members.

Moon also said the judge for the trial on Kang Ki-kab - the liberal opposition lawmaker whose acquittal last week sparked the ongoing debate - had never been a member of the group and that critics were making false assumptions. He called that unfair.

“It’s inappropriate for political circles to discuss the fate of a study group for judges,” Moon said. “It’s for the Supreme Court to deal with, after taking several steps.”

Moon also defended a disputed blog posting in which he wrote, “We have a Supreme Court Chief Justice [Lee Yong-hoon] whom most of our members support ... Now the chief justice is in the mainstream, we must not repeat previous mistakes.”

GNP legislator Lee Joo-young pointed out that the society was trying to divide the judiciary into a faction that supports Lee, who was appointed during the liberal Roh Moo-hyun government, and another that doesn’t.

But Moon countered that he was merely trying to implore judges not to rely on their connection to the chief justice to gain favorable posts, as others had done in the past.

By Yoo Jee-ho, Park Sung-woo [[email protected]]