Judge resigns after assaulting policeman

The Supreme Court said Monday that it had accepted the resignation of a senior judge indicted on charges of assaulting a policeman.

The 51-year-old judge, surnamed Lee, tendered his resignation after the prosecution indicted him without detention for unlawful interference with a police officer in the execution of his duty last April. But the judge’s departure does not mean that he has been debarred from practicing as a lawyer.

He was found to have assaulted the policeman, who was dispatched to a bar to mediate a quarrel between the suspect and a waiter in Yeoksam-dong, Gangnam district, southern Seoul.

He was transferred from the Suwon District Court to Changwon District Court in April as an internal disciplinary measure. Later, he submitted his resignation to the Supreme Court.

As the court has not divested him of his license to practice law, the judge is allowed to open or join a lawyer’s office though he has been discharged from his public post.

Under related regulations, a judge must face criminal punishment when he or she commits irregularities that interfere with his or her judicial duties. The Supreme Court regarded the judge’s legal practice as irrelevant to his official duties.

As a result, the judiciary is facing criticism for letting judges off too easily, without being subject to due punishment such as being expelled from the judicial circles.

Though a male judge earlier sexually assaulted a woman on the subway, the Supreme Court allowed him to quit without handing down punitive action.

The highest court also took a similar action against a judge who had forcibly kissed a female member of his staff during a dinner with drinks in 2012.

The judge apologized to her and tendered his resignation. An official at the Supreme Court said his resignation was accepted without other punitive action since he apologized for his misdeed and the female staffer did not wish to take things further.

By Kim Yon-se (kys@heraldcorp.com)