Lee Jae-myung faces first Supreme Court appointment test

Ruling party law to expand top court to 26 justices in 2028

The process to recommend a successor to Supreme Court Justice Lee Heung-gu, 63, who is set to retire in September, will begin in earnest this month, drawing attention to President Lee Jae-myung’s first Supreme Court appointments.

The appointment comes as the ruling Democratic Party of Korea’s law to expand the Supreme Court from 14 to 26 justices is set to take effect in 2028, a change that could allow Lee to appoint as many as 22 Supreme Court justices before his term ends in June 2030, according to the UPI report. Justices Cheon Dae-yeop, 62, and Oh Kyung-mi, 58, are scheduled to complete their terms next year. A total of 10 justices are expected to retire before the end of Lee’s term.

The Supreme Court completed a public comment period on 28 people who agreed to be reviewed by the candidate recommendation committee for Lee Heung-gu’s seat. If the committee recommends at least three candidates this month, Chief Justice Cho Hee-dae will select a final nominee and recommend that person to the president for appointment. The nominee must then undergo a National Assembly confirmation hearing before being formally appointed.

Article 104 of the constitution gives the president the authority to appoint Supreme Court justices while giving the chief justice the power to recommend nominees. The arrangement is intended to prevent political bias that could arise if the president fully controls Supreme Court appointments and to help protect judicial independence, according to the report.

But the process to recommend a successor to former Justice Roh Tae-ak, 64, who retired in March, has remained stalled for more than five months as the presidential office and the judiciary have failed to narrow their differences. Cho must recommend two nominees: one to replace Lee Heung-gu and another to fill the seat left vacant by Roh. A candidate recommendation committee formed ahead of Roh’s retirement recommended four candidates Jan. 21: Kim Min-ki and Park Soon-young, senior judges at the Seoul High Court; Son Bong-gi, a presiding judge at the Daegu District Court; and Yoon Sung-sik, a presiding judge at the Seoul High Court.

Because Roh’s seat remains vacant, the post of chief of the National Court Administration has been left open to avoid disrupting trial work, the report said. If Lee Heung-gu’s seat also becomes vacant, vacancies would occur in the court’s three four-member panels.

Jung Joo-baek, a professor at Chungnam National University School of Law, said the chief justice’s power to recommend Supreme Court nominees should not be treated merely as a procedural step supporting the president’s appointment authority. “When the prime minister is appointed, approval by more than two-thirds of the National Assembly is required, but the president chooses the nominee,” Jung said. “Parliamentary consent is closer to passive involvement.”

“By contrast, in the appointment of Supreme Court justices, the chief justice has the initiative because the process can move forward only after the chief justice selects and recommends a nominee,” Jung said.

A constitutional law scholar who requested anonymity said the chief justice has the power to recommend nominees but cannot independently determine the final candidate. “If the president does not make the appointment, the process ultimately has to start again,” the scholar said. “The limits of the recommendation power are very clear. The president’s appointment of Supreme Court justices itself is a factor that hinders judicial independence.”

The presidential office and the chief justice have traditionally consulted before a final candidate is selected. If the selection of Lee Heung-gu’s successor is also delayed, the Supreme Court’s backlog of appeals is expected to worsen, according to the report.