First step to normalize the judicial branch

New Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Cho Hee-dae decided to replace Kim Sang-hwan, current head of the Office of Court Administration (OCA), with former Justice Chun Dae-yup. We welcome his decision for the change. The head of the OCA not only handles appointments and budgets for the judicial branch but is also involved in appointing justices and the head of the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials. Upon taking office, the new chief justice promised to resolve delayed trials. It would be too much to expect Kim — the current OCA chief appointed by former liberal Chief Justice Kim Myeong-su — to address the chronic problem.

Chief Justice Cho faces a plethora of tasks his predecessor left behind. According to the Judicial Policy Research Institute, the period needed to close a civil case was extended to 420 days from 245 on average over the past 10 years, while the period for a criminal case was stretched to 223 days from 158 days. The protraction resulted mostly from the former chief justice’s decision to end the conventional promotion of senior judges at higher courts to court heads and allow junior judges to recommend court heads. Such a populist approach helped delay court trials.

The procrastination was serious for politically volatile cases in particular. It took 38 months for the trial on former Justice Minister Cho Kuk and 29 months for Rep. Yoon Mee-hyang. In the meantime, a former vice governor of Gyeonggi could blatantly delay a sensitive trial on his alleged involvement in remitting $8 million to North Korea in return for favors after requesting the summoning of too many witnesses from the judge.

In the past, if judges delay court proceedings on suspicious grounds, they received low scores for promotion. But those days are gone after competition vanished among judges. The former chief justice’s biased promotions of judges with liberal ideology also critically damaged the integrity of the court.

It is the new chief justice’s turn to solve the problem. Fortunately, he has decided to suspend the controversial recommendation system for court heads. But the new chief justice has blocked qualified senior judges at higher courts from being promoted to court heads. That had prompted a massive exodus of excellent judges to law firms to further delay trials. The new chief justice must also find an effective way to increase the number of judges to meet the growing demand for justice.

To solve those problems, the role of the OCA head is very important. Former Chief Justice Kim was appointed by President Moon Jae-in 2017. But he received an appreciation for delivering relatively balanced rulings on highly volatile cases. We hope the new chief justice to tackle many judicial challenges without any bias. He must not forget his duty to normalize the off-track judicial branch.