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 reiterated its request to Supreme Court Chief Justice Cho Hui-dae to proceed as quickly as possible with the process of re-nomination for the Supreme Court justice candidate. It has now been two weeks since President Lee Jae-myung effectively rejected the nomination of Supreme Court Justice candidate Sohn Bong-ki and requested a new candidate, yet there has been no subsequent action, raising renewed 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 Senior Spokesperson of the Blue House, responded during a briefing following the President's meeting with senior secretaries and advisors. Asked about the delay in the re-nomination procedure, she stated, "The Blue House is doing its utmost to ensure that follow-up procedures are thorough, so that the public's full constitutional right to a fair trial is not impaired."

She continued, "The Blue House's position is that, to prevent the protracted vacancy from infringing on the people's right to a fair trial, the Supreme Court Justice Candidate Recommendation Committee’s recommendations should be respected, and the re-nomination process should proceed as rapidly as possible."

On August 28, the Blue House decided not to submit the National Assembly confirmation motion for Sohn Bong-ki, Chief Judge of Daegu District Court, who had been nominated by Chief Justice Cho as the successor to former Supreme Court Justice Noh Tae-ak. Instead, the Blue House formally requested the Chief Justice to re-nominate a different candidate. At the time, the Blue House voiced concerns that Chief Justice Cho's written nomination had been carried out without substantive consultation with the President, and thus "lacked sufficient procedural completeness." It also questioned whether the nomination met the public’s demand for greater diversity on the Supreme Court.

By contrast, for Kim Sung-soo, the nominee to replace former Supreme Court Justice Lee Heung-gu who was nominated at the same time, prior consultation produced a consensus, and the Blue House proceeded to submit the confirmation motion to the National Assembly. Even then, the Blue House demanded, "To avoid a prolonged vacancy infringing on the people’s right to a fair trial, the re-nomination process must be expedited as much as possible."

The re-nomination process has yet to reach a conclusion. Chief Justice Cho stated on September 3 that he would announce an official position after reviewing the internal discussions in response to the Blue House request, but has not provided a clear position to date.

The burden on the judiciary has continued to grow as vacancies remain. The seat of former Justice Noh has been vacant since March, for over half a year, and with the retirement of Justice Lee Heung-gu on September 7, two seats on the Supreme Court are currently vacant. In an effort to prevent small panel hearings being suspended, the Supreme Court has recently adjusted panel assignments, but for the time being, 10 justices must share the workload that was previously handled by 12, inevitably increasing the burden of processing cases.

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