Blue House Urges Quick Action on Supreme Court Re-nomination, Stresses Need to Respect Committee Recommendations

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On September 11, the Blue House once again urged Supreme Court Chief Justice Cho Hee-dae to proceed with the process of resubmitting a new candidate for Supreme Court Justice as swiftly as possible. It has been two weeks since President Lee Jae-myung effectively returned the nomination of Sohn Bong-ki for Supreme Court Justice and requested a new nominee, yet no follow-up steps have been taken. This delay has reignited concerns over the prolonged vacancy on the Supreme Court bench.

On the 29th, as President Lee Jae-myung commuted to the Blue House, marking the official start of the Blue House era again after 3 years and 7 months, the phoenix flag was hoisted at the Blue House in Seoul. 2025.12.29 Photo by Jo Yongjun

Kang Yoo-jung, Chief Presidential Spokesperson, stated at a senior secretariat and aides meeting presided over by President Lee, "The Blue House is doing its utmost to ensure that there is no impediment to the people's full exercise of their right to a fair trial as we manage the necessary follow-up procedures," in response to questions regarding the delay in the resubmission process.

She added, "The Blue House's position is to respect the recommendations of the Supreme Court Justice Recommendation Committee and to process the resubmission procedures as quickly as possible, so that the public’s right to be tried is not infringed by prolonged vacancies on the Supreme Court bench."

On August 28 of last month, the Blue House declined to submit a request for parliamentary approval for the appointment of Sohn Bong-ki, a presiding judge at Daegu District Court, who had been nominated by Supreme Court Chief Justice Cho as the replacement for former Justice Noh Tae-ak. Instead, it requested that the Chief Justice nominate a different candidate. At that time, the Blue House determined that the written nomination from Chief Justice Cho was made without substantial consultation with the president, stating that "the procedural integrity was insufficient." They also questioned whether the nomination met the public demand for greater diversity within the Supreme Court.

In contrast, for the nomination of Kim Sung-su, who was named as the successor to the former Supreme Court Justice Lee Heung-gu at the same time, the Blue House confirmed that prior consultations had taken place and that consensus was reached, and thus submitted the request for parliamentary approval to the National Assembly. Even then, the Blue House called for prompt resubmission procedures to prevent the public’s right to trial from being impeded by prolonged vacancies on the bench.

The process for resubmitting a new candidate has yet to conclude. Chief Justice Cho stated on the 3rd that he would announce an official stance after confirming the outcome of internal discussions in response to the Blue House’s request, but has not made any further statements since then.

The judiciary’s burden is also increasing due to the vacancies on the Supreme Court. The seat vacated by former Justice Noh has remained empty for over six months since March of this year, and on the 7th, Justice Lee Heung-gu's term also expired, leaving two Supreme Court Justice positions unfilled. In an attempt to prevent the suspension of division benches, the Supreme Court has recently adjusted the court composition; however, for the time being, ten justices must share the workload previously handled by twelve, making it inevitable that the case backlog and workload will increase.

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