[News Analysis] Supreme Court justices nomination breaks long-standing convention

The nomination of three Supreme Court justices on Monday appears to break away from its long-standing convention of picking candidates based on their hometowns.

Supreme Court Chief Justice Kim Meong-su has recommended three nominees to President Moon Jae-in, including Kim Seon-soo, who has worked as an attorney for 30 years since passing the bar exam. If appointed, he will be the first person to take the post at the top court since 1980 without having a career as a judge or a prosecutor. 

Chief Justice of Jeju District Court Lee Dong-won and Noh Jeong-hee, the head of Supreme Court Library of Korea, also break the traditional mold as they have not served in the National Court Administration, an institution that is often called an “elite course” for the judiciary.

The nominees must attend confirmation hearings and be approved by the National Assembly. They are to succeed Justices Ko Young-han, Kim Chang-suk and Kim Shin, who are due to retire next month.

The nominations come in the wake of a judiciary abuse scandal, in which the court and the National Court Administration under the previous Supreme Court Chief Justice Yang Sung-tae is suspected of using politically sensitive trials to make a deal with the presidential office in return for a favor. 

Chief Justice Kim has vowed to confront the abuse case head on, and an unprecedented prosecutorial probe into the judiciary is under way. Kim has also revealed several times that he would make sure to separate the litigation works and legal administration works.

In announcing his nominations on Monday, Kim explained that his choices reflect the public’s expectations for justices to represent diversity.

“I considered nominees who not only have the right perspectives for fair trials but also have the will to realize social justice and to promote humanitarian values,” Kim said.

Kim Seon-soo has twice been recommended for nomination in the past. Among the current 14 Supreme Court justices, all except Park Sang-ok have served as a judge at one point in their careers. Park was a prosecutor.

Lee has also made a name as a liberal figure, working as a human rights lawyer and taking many labor-related cases. He was a founding member of a liberal lawyer’s group, Lawyers for a Democratic Society from 2002 to 2004 and later served as its chairman from 2010 to 2012.

While the Supreme Court justices mostly hail from Seoul National University, Jeju District Court Chief Justice Lee is a Korea University graduate, and would add to the current four non-SNU graduate justices.

Noh, the head of the Supreme Court Library, is the only female nominee among the three. If she is appointed, the number of female justices in the top court will become four, recording the largest number of female justices serving at the same time. She is an Ewha Womans University graduate.

The three female justices at the top court are Kim So-young, Park Jung-hwa and Min You-sook, who has been appointed in January.

When all three nominees are appointed, the number of justices named under the liberal Moon administration will total seven.

The Korean Bar Association welcomed the nomination of the three, saying it creates “harmony.”

“The nominees have fair perspectives of the law and are known to be held in high esteem in their respective workplaces,” the lawyer’s group said in a statement.

By Jo He-rim (herim@herladcorp.com)