'Judge blacklist' leads to judicial reform

Supreme Court Chief Justice Yang Sung-tae enters the court in southern Seoul, Thursday, one day after he partially accepted judges' calls for judicial reform. / Yonhap

By Jung Min-ho

Following the recent scandal of a “judge blacklist,” Supreme Court Chief Justice Yang Sung-tae said he will allow judges across Korea to hold a regular congress as part of judicial reform

The core part of the reform is expected to take some of the power away from the top judge, a post that wields enormous influence over personnel matters.

Judge Seo Kyung-hwan at the Seoul High Court will lead a special reform committee, in which judges will discuss issues such as how much authority the congress should have and who to appoint as its members.

Many judges hope that the congress will be an effective means of checking the top judge’s power, which they believe seriously damages their autonomy in doing their jobs.

“First, we should decide the nature of the congress, whether it should exercise some of the top judge’s rights or just focus on checking his power,” a committee member said.

In a statement released Wednesday, Yang said he also believes his authority over personnel affairs should be dispersed.

“I have always felt that judges should participate in judicial administration more actively and broadly, which will improve transparency and effectiveness,” he said. “We all agree that we need dramatic reform that can overcome the limits of the current system.”

Under the Constitution to guarantee their independence, judges can keep their status for 10 years unless they commit a serious crime.

But judges say it is not enough to guarantee their full independence because, after the term, the chief justice decides whether to keep them for another 10 years; and he can also wield great power over personnel matters without being checked by anyone.

The chief justice also has the right to recommend Supreme Court justices and appoint three of the nine Constitutional Court justices.

In the system, judges insist, they cannot be truly independent in making decisions, especially over politically important cases.

After coming up with reform measures, the committee is expected to carry them forward to make laws in cooperation with the National Assembly.

Yang also promised to reform the Office of Court Administration (OCA), which was accused of using the blacklist _ a document that allegedly contained judges’ personal information such as their political inclinations _ to take unjust personnel actions.

“In the wake of the scandal, I realized there was a growing dissatisfaction with the judicial administration,” he said. “I will review the OCA’s functions and composition to reform it.”

But he rejected their demand to reinvestigate the scandal, which was the trigger for reform.

After the issue came to the fore, the Supreme Court formed a fact-finding committee, which closed the case in April without checking the computer suspected of having the blacklist file.

“It is inappropriate to look at information on the computer without more specific evidence,” Yang said. “Also, there must be documents produced by other judges, too … I hope you understand the situation.”