A year since Chief Justice came to office

Press Release - September 21, 2012

- Under the directive “The Supreme Court to the People, the People to the Supreme Court,” the Supreme Court of Korea achieves meaningful changes in Chief Justice YANG Sung-Tae’s first year by seeking active communication with citizens, decentralizing the administration of justice, getting more cases to be resolved in the first instance, protecting minority rights for disabled people and victims of sexual violence, and improving judicial personnel policy -

<Changes made since Chief Justice YANG Sung-Tae took office>

1. Achieving transparent and open courts that communicate with the people

¨ç Establishing various channels of communication such as participation by the public in judicial administration ⇒ Start of a major, quiet change 

- 12 courts nationwide (including those in Busan, Seoul, Daegu, Suwon, Incheon, Chuncheon, Cheongju, and Jeonju) launched Citizen Justice Committees or public participation groups, providing institutional mechanisms for citizens’ active participation in judicial administration.

- Courts including Daejeon High Court are conducting a pilot study of inviting citizens as panels during civil case mediation procedures, to examine the possibility of implementing civil participation in civil trials.

- In district courts in Seoul Central, Seoul East, Seoul West, Uijeongbu, Suwon, Incheon, and Cheongju, judges have organized free lectures for the public to explain laws and regulations that affect their daily lives and raise public understanding of the law.

- Recognizing family issues, school violence, and juvenile crime as issues concerning the whole community, the Seoul Family Court discussed ways to jointly deal with school violence with the Seoul Office of Education in January 2012; the court also organized a 'Making Schools Free of Violence’ event in April 2012 – a conference with 50 principals from elementary, middle, and high schools in Seoul and school commissioners.

- In August 2012, the first mock trial was held for youth participants, comprised of junior high and high school students in the Seoul area. Participating students took part as a presiding judge or as a juror in the mock trial cases about school violence. The mock trial was conducted to call upon the students' attention toward the issue of school violence and the importance of abiding the law.

- In addition, the Supreme Court organized concerts and other similar events in an effort to create channels of communication with community residents. For example, in May 2012, the court invited visually-impaired people, local residents, children of multi-cultural families, and others to a concert to listen to music and spend time together with the Chief Justice, justices, and other members of the court. 

¨è Expansion of public participatory trials: Strengthening democratic justice under the court’s jurisdiction and reflecting the sound common sense of the people

- As of July 2012, the scope of citizen's participation in criminal trials expanded to include all criminal cases presided by a three-judge panel. Since first implemented in 2008, the public participatory trials have seen sharp increase in numbers.

- Beginning in June 2012, courts in which the public can participate were also added in Seoul Central, Suwon, Daejeon, Busan, and Gwangju district courts. 

- The Committee for Civil Participation in Trials was formed and launched to determine the type of public participatory trials suitable for Korea.

2. More cases resolved in the first instance, allowing faster remedies and reducing the social costs of dispute settlement 

- Based on extensive discussions involving judges and lawyers, awareness is increasing about the need to improve judicial hearings.

- Charges and defense of culpability and severity of sentencing for criminal cases have been carried out more fully during first-instance proceedings, resulting in significantly lower rates of appeal in the first half of 2012 compared to the same period in the previous year (down 7.2%). 

- Without major changes in external factors, some important positive changes have been observed in civil cases, such as an increasing rate of mediation and reconciliation and a reduced rate of appeals.  

3. Other improvements related to trials

¨ç Improvement of trials at Supreme Court

- A significantly higher number of cases was handled by the court en banc thanks to efforts to improve hearing methods. ⇒ Compared to 17 cases handled en banc in 2011, 21 cases were decided en banc in the first half of 2012.

- There has been a lower rate of dismissed cases based on the trials discontinuation system. ⇒ The rate went down  to 53.5% at the end of July 2012 from 68.2% in the same period the previous year.

¨è Establishment of sentencing guidelines

- With sentencing guidelines to be set for 78.2% of all crimes by the end of 2012, the rates of compliance with sentencing guidelines were as high as 90%; the Supreme Court made efforts such as strengthening sentencing guidelines for sex crimes to establish and enforce standards that meet public expectations.

¨é Enhanced professionalism in family dispute trials by expanding family courts 

- Family and branch courts were installed in areas outside Seoul almost 50 years after the start of the first family court in Seoul in 1963. ⇒ The initiative is aimed at meeting the public demand that specialized welfare and guardianship legal services offered by family courts should also be available in courts outside of Seoul.

- Since beginning the Busan Family Court in April 2011, family courts and 16 branch courts started operations in Daejeon, Daegu, and Gwangju in March 2012.

- Incheon Family Court and Bucheon branch court are to be installed in March 2016.

- Guidelines for determining child support were officially announced in May 2012 for the first time since family court began. ⇒ Based on expert and public opinion, these guidelines will guarantee objectivity in determining post-divorce child support and promote the well-being of children by allowing for adequate and realistic levels of child support. 

4. Social integration through guaranteeing minority rights 

¨ç Protection of women, children, and handicapped victims

- To protect victims of sexual violence and prevent secondary damage, training was provided for judges regarding sexual violence cases in 18 district courts nationwide and rules regarding witness interrogation were revised.

- Witness support rooms were installed to protect the rights of women, children, and handicapped victims and ensure their emotional stability (installation completed at Seoul Central, East, South, and North district courts ⇒ installation in progress at remaining courts).

- A witness guide video was produced for victims of sexual violence.

¨è Legal support for foreign nationals and immigrants

- A multi-language website will be opened for foreign nationals and immigrants (to be completed before the end of 2012), while a revised court interpreting manual was published and distributed to strengthen training of interpreters.

- Disabled access facilities were improved in 16 court buildings nationwide; visually impaired and blind people were consulted to enhance web accessibility to court affairs and invited to experience the court’s web system. 

- Korea’s first visually-impaired judge was appointed in February 2012 and assistance was offered in support of his duties. The Supreme Court plans to appoint more public officials with disabilities (disabled persons accounted for 6.21% of new recruits in 2012).

5. Establishment of life-tenure judge system and improvement of personnel policies

¨ç Appointing of Judges among lawyers with legal experience

- Prior to implementing the changes of judge's qualification which will become in force as of January 1, 2013, guidelines for evaluating personality and competency of the judge applicants were established to secure an objective and impartial selection of among the candidates.

¨è Revision of Chief Judges' appointment procedure

 - To become a Chief Judge, candidates will have to apply for the position. A Chief Judge's term is two years and can serve up to two terms, but not consecutively. He/she is required to return to the bench for a certain period of time after completing the first term of service.  Currently, five of the previously served Chief Judges returned to the bench in an effort to strengthen public confidence in court trials with their judicial experience and wisdom.

 ¨é Revision of performance evaluation and reappointment system for  judges

- Measures for improving the current policy were established based on opinions collected from judges nationally.

- Disclosure of performance evaluation results and objection procedures: Evaluation results will be disclosed for judges who have requested disclosure and whose evaluation grade require verification in the reappointment process, and judges’ objections to evaluation results will be allowed.

6. Decentralizing justice: achieving efficiency and flexibility in administration of justice by reflecting regional and individual circumstances 

¨ç High Courts to appoint full-time public counsels.

- As of November 2011, the Supreme Court delegated its powers of appointing full-time public counsels to respective high courts to secure efficient and effective public counsel services.

¨è District courts to directly outsource rehabilitation commissioners

- As of March 2012, two districts courts including Seoul Central District Court and Incheon District Court were delegated with the authority in exercising direct outsourcing of rehabilitation commissioners on a pilot project basis. The final appointments of the commissioners are made by the Chief Judges of respective court.

¨é High Courts to select respective law clerks

- Five High Courts situated nationwide will be responsible for selecting of each court's law clerks for the year 2012, within its jurisdiction. Same will apply for the year 2013.

¨ê Judges’ forum organized at district court level 

- August 31 and September 1, 2012, Busan District Court organized the first national criminal judges’ forum on social evaluation of criminal trials and tasks.

- September 14 and 15, 2012, Seoul Central District Court organized the national rehabilitation and bankruptcy judges’ forum, providing a venue to discuss pending issues on cases involving bankruptcy. 

¡á Publication and distribution of “Current Judicial Issues and Prospects - 2012”

- On the occasion of the first year anniversary of the inauguration of Chief Justice YANG Sung-Tae, “Current Judicial Issues and Prospects - 2012” was published to review the progress of "judicial development plan”during the past year and to update its future plans.