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Chief Justice Jo Hee-de mentioned on the 21st about the Democratic Party of Korea’s plan to reform the judicial system, “We will make sure the judiciary’s views are adequately considered in the public discussion.”

Chief Justice Jo replied in this manner to reporters while on his way to work, when questioned about his position on the judicial reform proposal unveiled by the Democratic Party’s Judicial Reform Special Committee (Saegae Special Committee) the day before. In response to worries that increasing the number of justices might lead to an unnecessary structure within the Supreme Court, he stated, “We will thoroughly discuss this internally and share our views.” This was seen as highlighting the importance of the judicial branch being involved in reforms of the judicial system.

Chief judges present at the National Assembly Legislation and Judiciary Committee’s audit that day also emphasized that judicial system reforms, such as increasing the number of justices, should be approached carefully following public discussion. Chief Judge Lee Won-beom from the Daejeon High Court stated, “Judicial officials hope the process for collecting opinions will be broadened to allow adequate debate and public discussion on various ‘judicial reform’ bills.” In response to Rep. Song Seok-jun from the People Power Party, who questioned whether structural changes within the judicial system were necessary, he replied, “In addition to that, measures to enhance lower courts are essential.”

Concerns about the Constitution were expressed concerning the Democratic Party’s initiative to implement a constitutional review process (a constitutional challenge against court decisions) and create a specialized division for cases related to insurrection. The proposed constitutional review, which would enable the Constitutional Court to reverse final decisions made by the Supreme Court, has caused debate due to its potential to disrupt the existing three-tier judicial system and effectively create a four-tier structure. Chief Judge Jin Seong-cheol from the Daegu High Court addressed Rep. Park Jun-tae of the People Power Party, who sought his view on the trial constitutional appeal referred to as a “four-tier system,” by stating, “It could potentially breach the constitutional provision that ‘judicial power belongs to the Supreme Court and lower courts.’”

Concerning the trial division focused on the insurrection, the chief judge stated, “If trial divisions are predetermined or restricted in their scope, there might be constitutional concerns.” When Representative Lee Sung-yoon from the Democratic Party questioned whether the insurrection trial division was unconstitutional, Chief Judge Jin responded, “It seems that issues regarding its constitutionality can be brought up.”