Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Korea

Head of South Korean highest ordinary court

The chief justice of the Supreme Court of Korea is the chief justice of the Supreme Court of Korea. As presiding judge of the grand bench composed of two thirds of fourteen Supreme Court justices, the chief represents the Supreme Court of Korea. The chief justice is regarded as one of two equivalent heads of judicial branch in Government of South Korea. Another head is the president of the Constitutional Court of Korea. The current chief justice of the Supreme Court of Korea is vacant and Supreme Court Justice Ahn Chul sang is acting as the chief justice of the Supreme Court of Korea.

Under chapter 5, article 104(1) of Constitution, and article 12(1) of Court Organization Act, the chief justice is appointed by the president of South Korea with the consent of the National Assembly of South Korea. While article 105(1) of Constitution sets term length of the chief justice as non renewable single term of six years, its mandatory age of retirement is delegated to sub constitutional regulation by article 105(4) of Constitution. Currently, the chief justice's mandatory age of retirement is 70 by article 45(4) of Court Organization Act.

As head member of the Supreme Court of Korea, the chief justice's formal main role is participating in decision of the Court as one of Supreme Court Justices. However, since most of cases in the Court are handled by three different panels or 'petty benches' each of consisting four Supreme Court justices except the chief justice, the chief cannot participate in ruling of daily cases. Rather, the chief justice only participates in 'crand bench ' convened with more than two thirds of all fourteen Justices, as presiding judge. A more substantial role of the chief justice is governing political and administrative tasks in ordinary courts, as the chief is head of hierarchy of conventional judiciary consisted of all ordinary courts in South Korea. The chief recommends candidate for all other thirteen Supreme Court Justices under article 104(2) of Constitution. Though all Supreme Court Justices are formally appointed by the President of South Korea with the consent of the National Assembly of South Korea, the chief's power to recommend candidate for each of Supreme Court Justices supports influence over composition of South Korean Supreme Court. The chief nominates candidate for three of nine Constitutional Court justices under article 111(3) of Constitution. Though all Constitutional Court justices are formally appointed by the president of South Korea, its nomination of candidate is usually reflected in final appointment by the president. Three of other six Constitutional Court justices are elected by National Assembly of South Korea. The left three are directly appointed by the President. The chief serves as the chair at Council of Supreme Court Justices composed of all fourteen Supreme Court justices including the Chief, which supervises administrative tasks in ordinary courts under article 16(1) and 17 of Court Organization Act. When a vote is a tie, the chief casts a vote. The chief appoints one of thirteen Supreme Court Justices as Minister of National Court Administration , which is centralized organization to govern all matters on judicial administration of ordinary South Korean courts, under article 68(1) of Court Organization Act. The chief appoints every judge in the lower ordinary courts, with consent of the Council of Supreme Court Justices under article 104(3) of Constitution. Substantial power of this article is embodied by article 44(1) and 44 2(3) of Court Organization Act. Under article 44 2(3) of the act, the chief evaluates all Judges in lower ordinary courts regularly and reflects it into personnel affairs of Judges, such as transferring judges from one lower court to other lower court (even against will of such judge), or declining renew of lower court Judge's 10 year term. The chief also appoints every law clerks and court officials (including the judicial assistant officer which has similar role as German Justizfachwirt) under article 53, 53 2 and 54 of the Court Organization Act. The chief can present written opinions to the National Assembly, on enacting or revising laws related to administration of ordinary courts, under article 9(3) of the Court Organization Act.

No. Name TenureAppointed byEducation 1 Kim Byung ro 5 August 1948 14 December 1957Rhee Syng manNihon University 2 Cho Young sun 9 June 1958 10 May 1960Gyeongseong Law College 3 Cho Jin man 30 June 1961 January 1964(Elected among Judges)Keijō Imperial University 4 January 1964 19 October 1968Park Chung Hee 5 Min Bok ki 21 October 1968 March 1973Keijō Imperial University 6 14 March 1973 21 December 1978 7 Yi Young sup 22 March 1979 15 April 1981Keijō Imperial University 8 Yoo Tai heung 16 April 1981 15 April 1986Chun Doo hwanKansai University 9 Kim Yong chul 16 April 1986 19 June 1988Seoul National University 10 Lee Il kyu 6 July 1988 15 December 1990 Roh Tae wooKansai University 11 Kim Deok ju 16 December 1990 10 September 1993Seoul National University 12 Yun Kwan 25 September 1993 24 September 1999Kim Young samYonsei University 13 Choi Jong young 25 September 1999 24 September 2005Kim Dae jungSeoul National University 14 Lee Yong hoon 25 September 2005 24 September 2011Roh Moo hyunSeoul National University 15 Yang Sung tae 25 September 2011 24 September 2017 Lee Myung bakSeoul National University 16 Kim Myeong su 25 September 2017 24 September 2023Moon Jae inSeoul National University Ahn Chul sang (Acting Président of the Supreme Court) 24 September 2023 7 December 2023 Takes up the position following the resignation of Chief Justice Kim Myeong su Konkuk University17Cho Hee dae8 December 2023CurrentlyYoon Suk yeolSeoul National University