Judges discuss their own freedom of speech

Chief Justice Yang Sung-bae met with the country’s top judges on Friday and discussed the mounting criticism against the Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement within the judiciary.

Attending chief judges of High Courts and District Courts are said to have discussed the developments surrounding the Korea-U.S. FTA and reviewed the situation related to the view that the judiciary should analyze the pact from a legal point of view.

In the meeting, Yang did not directly criticize judges who have made their views on the trade pact known, but indicated that sitting judges should exercise restraint in voicing personal views on such politically or socially divisive matters.

Citing a proverb that means the wise do not do things that can cause misunderstandings, Yang said that judges “must always be careful and should engage in self-reflection and training.”

This is not the first time Yang has expressed concern for judges openly making politically sensitive comments.

On Nov. 25, three days after FTA-related comments from judges became an issue, Yang said that judges cannot earn respect without self-control and self-reflection.

Since Judge Choi Eun-bae of Incheon District Court criticized the ratification of the Korea-U.S. FTA on Nov. 22, other judges have taken a similar stance toward the pact.

On Nov. 22, Choi wrote on his Facebook page that he will remember the day when “the president and trade officials who are pro-American to the bone sold off the country’s economy and the people.”

Choi’s actions were taken before the Supreme Court’s ethics committee, and the committee has decided to draw up guidelines for judges’ use of social network services.

On Thursday, Kim Ha-neul, another Incheon court judge, wrote on the courts’ intranet saying that the Korea-U.S. FTA should be reviewed in terms of its legal implications.

In his post, Kim named a number of clauses that he considered to be detrimental to Korea including the investor-state dispute settlement clause, which he described as “a clause that in effect takes away Korea’s judicial independence.”

At the end of the post, Kim said that he will submit a petition for setting up a taskforce for analyzing the pact within the administrative arm of the judiciary to the chief justice, if more than 100 judges show their agreement within the month.

More than 120 judges had expressed agreement with Kim’s post by Friday.

By Choi He-suk  (cheesuk@heraldcorp.com)