On first day, Chief Justice Jo Hee-de reported under new ‘judicial distortion’ law

 

Chief Justice Jo Hee-de arrives at the Supreme Court in Seocho District, Seoul, on March 12, the day the government promulgated and put into effect the three judicial reform laws. [NEWS1]

 
Concerns about political pressure on the judiciary emerged immediately after two provisions of the ruling party’s so-called “three judicial reform bills” took effect on Thursday. While the expansion of Supreme Court justices was postponed for two years, the crime of judicial distortion and a constitutional complaint system against court rulings were implemented immediately.
 
On the first day of enforcement, a lawyer who has long criticized the judiciary filed a criminal complaint against Chief Justice Jo Hee-de and Supreme Court Justice Park Young-jae. The complaint was actually submitted more than a week ago, on March 2, to the National Office of Investigation under the National Police Agency, accusing the two justices of violating the judicial distortion provision under Article 123-2 of the Criminal Act.
 
Jo thus became the first figure reported under the new law.
 
The complainant, who has previously advocated judicial reforms similar to those promoted by the ruling party, questioned the Supreme Court’s ruling in May last year involving President Lee Jae Myung, who was then the Democratic Party’s (DP) presidential candidate. At the time, the Supreme Court remanded Lee’s election law violation case to a lower court with a ruling effectively recognizing guilt.
 
The complaint argues that the justices failed to sufficiently review about 70,000 pages of case records despite their legal obligation to do so. According to the complainant, that failure constitutes judicial distortion, a crime punishable by up to 10 years in prison.
 
Before the judicial reform bills were passed, DP leader Jung Chung-rae publicly pressured the chief justice to resign, saying Jo was responsible for public distrust toward the judiciary.
 
In political circles, many had predicted that once the judicial distortion law took effect it might be used to target the chief justice directly as part of efforts to exert political influence over the judiciary. Those concerns appeared to surface on the first day.
 
Although the DP itself did not file the complaint, the fact that the head of the judiciary now faces a police investigation raises concerns that Supreme Court deliberations and even lower court judges could feel pressured.
 

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The new constitutional complaint system against court rulings also began operating on Thursday, with 11 petitions filed on the first day.
 
Former lawmaker Yang Moon-seok, who lost his parliamentary seat after the Supreme Court confirmed his guilty verdict Thursday, also mentioned the possibility of filing such a complaint against the ruling.
 
Earlier, the Constitutional Court decided that the system would apply not only to cases finalized by the Supreme Court but also to cases in which litigants waived their right to appeal after lower court rulings.
 
As a result, the number of petitions is expected to reach about 15,000 annually, raising concerns about delays in case processing and increased litigation costs.
 
Despite constitutional concerns raised by many legal experts, the ruling party pushed the judicial reform bills through the National Assembly in the name of reform. Because the changes could affect the criminal justice system and citizens’ constitutional rights, the government and ruling party should carefully monitor the implementation process and respond quickly if problems arise.


This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.