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| Protestors, dressed up as former Supreme Court Chief Justice Yang Sung-tae (right) and former NCA head Park Byeong-dae, demand justice in the recent judiciary abuse scandal in front of the Supreme Court, Seocho-gu, Seoul, on Sept. 13. / Yonhap |
By Lee Suh-yoon
Supreme Court Chief Justice Kim Myeong-su ordered the administrative organ of the judiciary branch to be shut down and its function transferred to a separate committee comprised of outside members, Thursday, after months of mounting political pressure to hold court members accountable for a massive power abuse scandal.
"The National Court Administration (NCA), which has been pointed out as the starting point of many problems, will be shut down," Kim announced in an online post on the court's intranet bulletin board. "As soon as the relevant legal clauses are ready, the NCA's administrative function will be transferred to a separate committee."
Kim said he will first decrease the number of full-time judges dispatched to the NCA by one-third in next year's personnel shift. He also hinted at the establishment of a bigger reform body that ensures participation of outside members from the government and civic group members.
"From now on, I will focus on structural changes that can do away with the court's bureaucratic culture and non-transparent administrative arrangements," Kim said.
The move came after weeks of investigation into a power abuse scandal that happened under Kim's predecessor, former Chief Justice Yang Sung-tae, who allegedly used the NCA for political purposes.
Just last week, President Moon Jae-in berated the Supreme Court for its lukewarm response to the snowballing allegations that the NCA, under Yang, meddled in court rulings to curry favor with Cheong Wa Dae and lobby for another high court. Moon warned it of "shaken public trust."
The NCA has been holding key powers like budget allocations, personnel assignments and promotions of judges.
Earlier this year, it came under fire after internal documents were revealed that showed Yang's plan to reflect Cheong Wa Dae's interest in the courts' rulings on high-profile cases, so as to better appeal for a de-facto second Supreme Court.
One of the most notable examples of judiciary power abuse involved the case brought by victims of Japan's wartime slavery. The documents showed that Yang and other NCA officials pressured the presiding judges to delay the ruling on the case for years to toe the line with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
"I think it's a positive start, showing more concrete commitment to reform by agreeing to be monitored by outsiders," Kim Jun-woo, a senior member of Minbyun, or Lawyers for Democratic Society, told The Korea Times. "But we will have to keep watching to see if the separate committee guarantees proper participation by outsiders."
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