Justice of the Constitutional Court of Korea

The Constitutional Court of Korea is one of two highest courts in court system of South Korea. It is composed of nine Constitutional Court Justices (Korean: 헌법재판소 재판관; Hanja: 憲法裁判所 裁判官; RR: Heonbeopjaepanso Jaepangwan), and one of them is the 'President of the Court'. The exact number of Constitutional Court Justices is determined by article 111(2) of the Constitution of South Korea.^[1]

Justice of the Constitutional Court of Korea
헌법재판소 재판관 (Korean)
Emblem of the Constitutional Court
Flag of the Constitutional Court of Korea
Nine inaugural justices of the Court in 1988
Constitutional Court of Korea
Style	Your Honor
Status	Justice
Member of	Council of Constitutional Court Justices
Seat	Jongno, Seoul
Appointer	President of South Korea
Term length	Six years, renewable
Constituting instrument	Constitution of South Korea
Formation	1 September 1988; 36 years ago (1988-09-01)
Website	Official english website

By article 111(2) of the Constitution, all of the Constitutional Court Justices are appointed by the President of South Korea. However, following article 111(3) of the Constitution, three of the Constitutional Court Justices should be appointed from candidates selected by the National Assembly, and another three of Constitutional Court Justices should be appointed from candidates nominated by the Supreme Court Chief Justice. Thus, only three of nine Constitutional Court Justices are directly appointed by the President of South Korea. They serve for renewable term of six-year under article 112(1) of the Constitution, yet there are only two Justices who tried to renew their term because it could eventually harm judicial independence by amplifying influence of the President of South Korea on the Constitutional Court.

According to article 5(1) of 'Constitutional Court Act',^[2] Constitutional Court Justices should be at least 40 years old, and should also have more than 15 years of career in legal practice or academia with license of attorney at law.

Current Justices

Below table is list of current Justices in Constitutional Court of Korea.^[3]

Name	Tenure / Current Length	Appointed by	Selected·Nominated by	Education
Yoo Nam-seok (President)	November 11, 2017 / 6 years, 11 months	Moon Jae-in	(Directly by President of South Korea)	Seoul National University
Lee Suk-tae	September 21, 2018 / 6 years, 1 month	Moon Jae-in	Chief Justice (Kim Myeong-soo)	Seoul National University
Lee Eunae	September 21, 2018 / 6 years, 1 month	Moon Jae-in	Chief Justice (Kim Myeong-soo)	Seoul National University
Lee Jongseok	October 18, 2018 / 6 years	Moon Jae-in	National Assembly (Liberty Korea)	Seoul National University
Lee Youngjin	October 18, 2018 / 6 years	Moon Jae-in	National Assembly (Bareunmirae)	Sungkyunkwan University
Kim Kiyoung	October 18, 2018 / 6 years	Moon Jae-in	National Assembly (Democratic)	Seoul National University
Moon Hyungbae	April 19, 2019 / 5 years, 6 months	Moon Jae-in	(Directly by President of South Korea)	Seoul National University
Lee Mison	April 19, 2019 / 5 years, 6 months	Moon Jae-in	(Directly by President of South Korea)	Pusan National University
Kim Hyungdu	March 31, 2023 / 1 year, 7 months	Yoon Suk-yeol	Chief Justice (Kim Myeong-soo)	Seoul National University

Former Justices

Below table is list of former Justices in Constitutional Court of Korea.^[4] Since South Korea adopted American styled 3-year law school system for legal education in year 2008, 'education' column of below table means where former Justices received undergraduate degree.^[5]

Name	Tenure	Position	Appointed by	Selected·Nominated by		Education
Cho Kyu-kwang	Sep. 1988 ~ Sep. 1994	1st President	Roh Tae-woo	(Directly by President of South Korea)		Seoul National University
Lee Seong-yeol	Sep. 1988 ~ Aug. 1991	Justice		Chief Justice	Lee Il-kyu	Chosun University
Byun Jeong-soo	Sep. 1988 ~ Sep. 1994	Justice		National Assembly	Peace Democratic	Korea University (dropped out)
Kim Chin-woo	Sep. 1988 ~ Sep. 1994	Justice[6]		National Assembly	Reunification Democratic	Seoul National University
	Sep. 1994 ~ Jan. 1997		Kim Young-sam	(Directly by President of South Korea)
Han Byung-chae	Sep. 1988 ~ Sep. 1994	Justice	Roh Tae-woo	National Assembly	Democratic Justice	Seoul National University
Lee Shi-yoon	Sep. 1988 ~ Dec. 1993	Justice		Chief Justice	Lee Il-kyu	Seoul National University
Choe Kwang-ryool	Sep. 1988 ~ Sep. 1994	Justice		(Directly by President of South Korea)		Seoul National University
Kim Yang-kyun	Sep. 1988 ~ Sep. 1994	Justice		(Directly by President of South Korea)		Chonnam National University
Kim Moon-hee	Sep. 1988 ~ Sep. 1994	Justice[7]		Chief Justice	Lee Il-kyu	Seoul National University
	Sep. 1994 ~ Sep. 2000		Kim Young-sam	(By consensus of National Assembly)[8]
Hwang Do-yun	Aug. 1991 ~ Aug. 1997	Justice	Roh Tae-woo	Chief Justice	Kim Deok-ju	Seoul National University
Lee Jae-hwa	Dec. 1993 ~ Dec. 1999	Justice	Kim Young-sam	Chief Justice	Yun Kwan	Seoul National University
Kim Yong-joon	Sep. 1994 ~ Sep. 2000	2nd President		(Directly by President of South Korea)		Seoul National University
Cho Seung-hyung	Sep. 1994 ~ Sep. 1999	Justice		National Assembly	Democratic	Seoul National University
Chung Kyung-sik	Sep. 1994 ~ Sep. 2000	Justice		(Directly by President of South Korea)		Korea University
Koh Joong-suk	Sep. 1994 ~ Sep. 2000	Justice		Chief Justice	Yun Kwan	Seoul National University
Shin Chang-on	Sep. 1994 ~ Sep. 2000	Justice		National Assembly	Democratic Liberal	Seoul National University
Lee Young-mo	Jan. 1997 ~ Mar. 2001	Justice		(Directly by President of South Korea)		Pusan National University
Han Dae-hyun	Aug. 1997 ~ Aug. 2003	Justice		Chief Justice	Yun Kwan	Seoul National University
Ha Kyung-chul	Sep. 1999 ~ Jan. 2004	Justice	Kim Dae-jung	National Assembly	New Politics	Seoul National University
Kim Young-il	Dec. 1999 ~ Mar. 2005	Justice		Chief Justice	Choi Jong-young	Seoul National University
Yun Young-chul	Sep. 2000 ~ Sep. 2006	3rd President		(Directly by President of South Korea)		Seoul National University
Kwon Seong	Sep. 2000 ~ Aug. 2006	Justice		National Assembly	Grand National	Seoul National University
Kim Hyo-jong	Sep. 2000 ~ Sep. 2006	Justice		(By consensus of National Assembly)[8]		Seoul National University
Kim Kyoung-il	Sep. 2000 ~ Sep. 2006	Justice		Chief Justice	Choi Jong-young	Seoul National University
Song In-jun	Sep. 2000 ~ Sep. 2006	Justice		(Directly by President of South Korea)		Seoul National University
Choo Sun-hoe	Mar. 2001 ~ Mar. 2007	Justice		(Directly by President of South Korea)		Korea University
Jeon Hyo-sook	Aug. 2003 ~ Aug. 2006	Justice	Roh Moo-hyun	Chief Justice	Choi Jong-young	Ewha Womans University
Lee Sang-kyung	Feb. 2004 ~ Jun. 2005	Justice		National Assembly	Millennium Democratic	Chung-Ang University
Lee Kong-hyun	Mar. 2005 ~ Mar. 2011	Justice		Chief Justice	Choi Jong-young	Seoul National University
Cho Dae-hyen	Jul. 2005 ~ Jul. 2011	Justice		National Assembly	Uri	Seoul National University
Kim Hee-ok	Sep. 2006 ~ Dec. 2010	Justice		(Directly by President of South Korea)		Dongguk University
Kim Jong-dae	Sep. 2006 ~ Sep. 2012	Justice		Chief Justice	Lee Yong-hoon	Seoul National University
Min Hyeong-ki	Sep. 2006 ~ Sep. 2012	Justice		Chief Justice	Lee Yong-hoon	Seoul National University
Lee Dong-heub	Sep. 2006 ~ Sep. 2012	Justice		National Assembly	Grand National	Seoul National University
Mok Young-joon	Sep. 2006 ~ Sep. 2012	Justice		(By consensus of National Assembly)[8]		Seoul National University
Lee Kang-kook	Jan. 2007 ~ Jan. 2013	4th President		(Directly by President of South Korea)		Seoul National University
Song Doo-hwan	Mar. 2007 ~ Mar. 2013	Justice		(Directly by President of South Korea)		Seoul National University
Park Han-chul	Feb. 2011 ~ Apr. 2013	Justice	Lee Myung-bak	(Directly by President of South Korea)		Seoul National University
	Apr. 2013 ~ Jan. 2017	5th President	Park Geun-hye	(Directly by President of South Korea)
Lee Jung-mi	Mar. 2011 ~ Mar. 2017	Justice	Lee Myung-bak	Chief Justice	Lee Yong-hoon	Korea University
Kim Yi-Su	Sep. 2012 ~ Sep. 2018	Justice		National Assembly	Democratic United	Seoul National University
Lee Jin-sung	Sep. 2012 ~ Nov. 2017	Justice		Chief Justice	Yang Sung-tae	Seoul National University
	Nov. 2017 ~ Sep. 2018	6th President	Moon Jae-in	(Directly by President of South Korea)
Kim Chang-jong	Sep. 2012 ~ Sep. 2018	Justice	Lee Myung-bak	Chief Justice	Yang Sung-tae	Kyungpook National University
Ahn Chang-ho	Sep. 2012 ~ Sep. 2018	Justice		National Assembly	Saenuri	Seoul National University
Kang Il-won	Sep. 2012 ~ Sep. 2018	Justice		(By consensus of National Assembly)[8]		Seoul National University
Seo Ki-seog	Apr. 2013 ~ Apr. 2019	Justice	Park Geun-hye	(Directly by President of South Korea)		Seoul National University
Cho Yong-ho	Apr. 2013 ~ Apr. 2019	Justice		(Directly by President of South Korea)		Konkuk University
Lee Seon-ae	Mar. 2017 ~ Mar. 2023	Justice	Hwang Kyo-ahn	(Directly by President of South Korea)		Seoul National University

See also

• Judiciary of South Korea
• Constitutional Court of Korea
• President of the Constitutional Court of Korea
• Lists of supreme court justices

Notes and references

1. "Constitution of the Republic of Korea". Korea Legislation Research Institute. Retrieved 2022-04-20.
2. "Constitutional Court Act". Korea Legislation Research Institute. Retrieved 2022-04-20.
3. "Current Justices". Constitutional Court of Korea. Retrieved 2022-04-20.
4. "Former Justices". Constitutional Court of Korea. Retrieved 2022-04-20.
5. 이, 성진 (October 20, 2014). "헌법재판관, 10에 7명 서울대 출신" (in Korean). The Law Journal. Retrieved 2022-04-20.
6. Justice Kim Chin-woo is one of two Constitutional Justices who successfully renewed his term. Another is Justice Kim Moon-hee. This renewal of term is account of personal friendship between President Kim Young-sam and Justice Kim Chin-woo. See "Lim Jibong. (2014). An Analysis on the Judicial Inclination of Justice Jin-Woo Kim in the First Korean Constitutional Court. 법학논총, 31, 8-9" (in Korean). Retrieved 2022-04-21.
7. Justice Kim Moon-hee is one of two Constitutional Justices who successfully renewed his term. Another is Justice Kim Chin-woo. This renewal of term is account of personal friendship between President Kim Young-sam and Justice Kim Moon-hee. After these two Constitutional Court Justices renewed their term, no Justice had tried to renew its term since it could harm independence of judiciary, as those special relationship between the President of South Korea and Constitutional Court Justice provoked social doubt on independence of the Court. See "Lim Jibong. (2013). An Analysis on the Judicial Inclination of Justice Moon-Hee Kim in the Second Korean Constitutional Court. 미국헌법연구, 24(1), 297-299" (in Korean). Retrieved 2022-04-21.
8. 이, 승윤 (July 26, 2018). "'국회 몫' 헌법재판관 3명, 다당제서 어떻게 선출될까" (in Korean). lawtimes.co.kr. Retrieved 2022-04-21.