The Democratic Party of Korea tabled a revised bill to establish dedicated insurrection courts at the National Assembly plenary session on Wednesday, removing a controversial judicial nomination committee that had sparked constitutional concerns.
The revised "Special Act on Criminal Procedures for Insurrection, Foreign Aggression, and Rebellion Crimes" eliminates the external recommendation committee and instead allows court divisions to be formed through the judiciary's internal procedures.
The People Power Party (PPP) immediately launched a filibuster in protest, arguing the legislation violates judicial independence. PPP leader Chang Dong-hyuk took the podium first — marking the first time in Korea's constitutional history that a major opposition party leader has personally led a filibuster.
According to political sources, the bill tabled Wednesday underwent two rounds of revisions from the original version approved by the National Assembly's Legislation and Judiciary Committee.
Under the revised bill, at least two dedicated insurrection trial divisions would be established at both the Seoul Central District Court and the Seoul High Court. The judges' councils at each court would set composition standards, after which case assignment committees established under Supreme Court rules would allocate judges to the divisions. These committee decisions must be reported to and approved by the respective judges' councils, and the chief judges of both courts would then appoint the approved judges.
The revision represents a step back from the original proposal, which had allowed for potential external interference in the judge selection process.
Other matters related to the dedicated court divisions would be determined by Supreme Court regulations. The Seoul Central District Court would have exclusive jurisdiction over warrant requests for search and seizure, arrests, and detention during investigations.
The dedicated divisions would in principle be established starting from the first trial, but a supplementary provision states that cases already in progress when the law takes effect would continue under their current judges. This means Judge Ji Gwi-yeon's division, currently handling former President Yoon Suk Yeol's insurrection case, is expected to continue presiding through the first trial.
"The core of this law is to break the fundamental principle of random case assignment that courts have maintained to protect judicial independence from external influence," Chang said during his filibuster speech. "The reason is clear — to protect Lee Jae-myung," he added, referring to the Democratic Party leader who faces multiple criminal trials.
The Democratic Party plans to end the filibuster through a vote on Thursday, 24 hours after it began, and proceed to pass the dedicated court bill. The party then intends to table revisions to the Information and Communications Network Act, commonly called the "false information eradication law."
The Democrats had originally planned to process the network act first but changed the order to revise provisions that had drawn constitutional concerns.
