Honorable fellow citizens!

The New Year of 2016 has dawned. With our dedicated staff of the judiciary, I would like to extend warm greetings to you all.  I sincerely wish that your cherished dreams will all come true and the New Year is filled with joy and happiness.

This year, the parliamentary elections will be held.  I hope the launch of the new National Assembly will provide a momentum to create a stronger national unity which leads to a more prosperous nation based on a mature democracy and an elevated sense of pride of all our citizens.  Korean judiciary will do our utmost in conducting election-related court affairs so that public opinions are accurately reflected through fair elections.

Fellow citizens!

As the world is currently plagued by prevalent economic recession, Korea is not immune from the effect.  However, Korea is a country that has awed the world with achievement of miraculous development and transforming itself from one of the world’s poorest countries into a country at the threshold of joining the ranks of advanced nations in a span of just a half century.  In such process, whenever we were faced with a host of daunting crises, we managed to overcome them by coming together with a sense of solidarity and wisdom.  This is the incredible potential of Koreans and we deserve to take pride in those capabilities.  It is also such potential we have that enables us to withstand hardships even amid global economic slowdown.  I am confident the New Year will usher in another opportunity for a leap forward if we are to unleash our full potential based on a sense of pride in ourselves and national harmony.

Honorable fellow citizens!

In the New Year, Korean judiciary will continue to make relentless efforts to be all ears to the voices of our citizens and search for a path that is just with fair laws as the light that guides us. We will endeavor to take a step forward to becoming a judiciary that is trusted by the people, with a hope that our citizens feel the sincerity of our efforts to bring the courts closer to the public.  I ask for your support and encouragement in our endeavor towards achieving that goal throughout the year. 

I wish you the best for the New Year.

January 1, 2016

YANG Sung-tae
The Chief Justice