By Park Si-soo
Staff Reporter
On April 4, a Thai man indicted on charges of murder was listening to a court ruling at the Suwon District Court's Ansan branch. Although the accused had little Korean language skills, he had no trouble understanding the verbal battle between the prosecutor and defending attorney thanks to court interpreter Kim Nam-sook.
The murderer was sentenced to 12 years in prison. ``I really appreciate Kim's help. Thanks to her, I was able to undergo a fair and impartial trial,'' the Thai said.
With a growing number of foreigners migrating into Korea, the number of lawsuits in which foreign nationals are involved is growing.
According to the Supreme Court, a total of 1,936 criminal trials linked to foreigners were held in 2005. More than 1,300 criminal cases were handled during the first half of 2007.
In response, courts have begun offering interpretation and translation services.
The Suwon District Court holds 33 volunteer language specialists in 13 languages including Vietnamese, Mongolian, Thai and other languages of countries from which foreign laborers have migrated.
``Our court covers areas where foreign workers are heavily populated, including Ansan. With soaring foreigner-related lawsuits, we began offering the language service to guarantee their right to have fair trial,'' said Jang Chang-soo, spokesman for the Suwon District Court.
Park Kyeong-mi, spokesman for the Suwon District Court's Ansan branch, said ``A total of 40 interpreters and translators in 18 languages are registered at the attached court. Chinese is the most sought-after language here.''
Despite these efforts, there is still a long way to go to completely eliminate the language barrier in the courtroom.
As of the end of 2007, only seven courts nationwide run in-court language services. Besides the Ansan branch and Gwangju District Court, none have staff specialized in court interpretation. Most temporarily hire freelance interpreters when the need arise.
``Expertise is needed to conduct faultless interpretation in a courtroom. Currently, however, there is no education or training program to nurture court language specialists,'' said Rep. Sun Byung-ryul during the government inspection last October. ``The Japanese government has a variety of programs to foster court interpreters and translators. The Korean government should come up with measures to meet the growing demand,'' the lawmaker said.
Bae Hyeon-tae, director for public relations at the Supreme Court, said it plans to launch nationwide research to gauge growth and predict the number of interpreters that might be needed in the future.
pss@koreatimes.co.kr
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