National Conference of Judges' Representatives to Convene Dec. 7 Amid Growing Opposition to Parliamentary Investigation

Agenda undecided... Items with support from at least four representatives by November 30 will be submitted for consideration.

Judge representatives observe the national ceremony before the start of the National Conference of Judges' Representatives, held at the Judicial Research and Training Institute in Ilsan, Goyang, Gyeonggi Province, on December 8 last year. Photo by Yoon Dongju.

As opposition grows within the judiciary over the Democratic Party of Korea's push for a parliamentary investigation targeting Supreme Court Chief Justice Cho Hee-dae, representatives of judges nationwide will convene for the regular meeting of the National Conference of Judges' Representatives on December 7.

On November 3, the Conference's Steering Committee notified judges' representatives of the schedule for its regular meeting in the second half of the year. The meeting will be held at 10 a.m. on December 7 at the Judicial Research and Training Institute in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province. It will allow both in-person and video participation, and the formal notice convening the meeting is expected to be issued around November 20.

The agenda has not yet been finalized. However, concerns over the push for a parliamentary investigation have been raised both within and outside the judiciary, drawing attention to whether the issue will be discussed at the meeting. Advance agenda items posted on the judiciary's internal bulletin board by November 30 will be submitted if they receive the support of at least four representatives. Other items may also be raised at the meeting if they receive the support of nine other representatives.

Earlier, calls were also made within the judiciary to convene an extraordinary meeting of the National Conference of Judges' Representatives. On the morning of November 3, Nam Junwoo, a presiding judge at the Seoul Bankruptcy Court and a member of the Judicial Research and Training Institute's 34th class, posted a piece titled "The Meaning of Silence (Calling for the Convening of the National Conference of Judges' Representatives)" on the judiciary's internal network. In the piece, he wrote, "I call for an extraordinary meeting of the National Conference of Judges' Representatives in response to the unprecedented re-nomination of Supreme Court justice candidates, a situation highly likely to recur regardless of which administration is in power."

He also included the words "Silence means consent" by British writer Oliver Goldsmith, Martin Luther King Jr.'s 1968 speech, and a passage from the Inferno in Dante's Divine Comedy, reflecting on judges' silence. At the end of the piece, he cited Article 6, Paragraph 1 of the Rules, which stipulates that the Conference of Judges' Representatives may express opinions or make recommendations on judicial administration and judicial independence.

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