Cho Hee-dae: "I fully respect the National Assembly’s legislative role... Korea’s judiciary is more trusted than that of the US"

[The Financial News] Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Korea Cho Hee-dae commented on the recently passed so-called "three judicial reform bills"—which create a new offense of "distortion of law," introduce a Court Constitutional Petition System, and increase the number of Supreme Court justices—saying, "I fully respect the National Assembly’s legislative activities."
Speaking to reporters on his way into the Supreme Court of Korea in Seocho District, Seoul, on the morning of the 3rd, Chief Justice Cho said, "There is no such thing as a perfect system in this world, and I think we can all agree that systems must constantly be improved," adding, "The judiciary will, under any circumstances, fulfill all the duties imposed on it by the Constitution of the Republic of Korea."
However, reiterating concerns he has raised several times before, he added, "I earnestly ask the people to reflect once more, right up to the very end, on whether such a sudden and sweeping transformation will truly help the public, and whether there is anything in it that might actually cause harm."
Asked whether there was discord with Cheong Wa Dae (the Blue House) over the appointment of a successor to Supreme Court Justice Rho Tae-ak, who is scheduled to hold a retirement ceremony later in the day, he replied, "We are continuing to consult." He also said that the designation of a successor to Supreme Court Justice Park Young-jae, head of the National Court Administration, who recently tendered his resignation, would be discussed going forward.
Chief Justice Cho went on at unusual length about public trust in the judiciary. "One of the reasons given for pursuing judicial reform is that public trust is said to be low," he noted, adding, "But if you look at trust survey results from Gallup Korea, the United States of America (US) has a 35% trust level in its courts, whereas our country stands at 47%."
He continued, "This is not to say that we are doing well, but that we must work harder to earn even greater trust," and added, "Public trust reflects the level of public expectations, so we need to look carefully at objective indicators."
He also pointed out, "According to the 2024 World Justice Project (WJP) World Justice Project Rule of Law Index (WJP Rule of Law Index), Korea ranks 19th among roughly 140 countries worldwide," explaining, "Among countries with populations of more than 50 million, we rank fourth in the world."
He emphasized that while Germany has more than 20,000 judges in its judiciary, Korea has only around 3,000, yet Korean judges are working tirelessly day and night.
Supreme Court Justice Cho added, "It is not desirable to disparage our system without basis or to demonize judges over individual cases."

hwlee@fnnews.com Lee Hwan-joo Reporter