Fourteen former presidents of the Korean Bar Association (KBA) and the Korean Women Lawyers Association (KWLA) called on President Lee Jae-myung to veto the so-called "three judicial reform bills" recently passed by the National Assembly under the Democratic Party's leadership, calling them "judicial destruction that undermines the rule of law."
Eight former KBA presidents—Park Seung-seo, Ham Jeong-ho, Jeong Jae-heon, Cheon Gi-hong, Shin Young-mu, Ha Chang-woo, Kim Hyun, and Lee Jong-yeop—and six former KWLA presidents—Kim Jeong-seon, Park Bo-young, Lee Myung-sook, Lee Eun-kyung, Cho Hyun-wook, and Wang Mi-yang—issued a joint statement on Wednesday.
"The three judicial reform bills represent a serious attempt to alter the power structure that shakes the foundation of Korea's constitutional order," they said. "They were pushed through without social consensus or constitutional review."
The bills passed the National Assembly plenary session between May 26 and 28 under the ruling party's leadership and now await only the president's promulgation.
Regarding the introduction of constitutional complaints against court rulings, the former bar leaders stated: "Allowing the Constitutional Court to overturn Supreme Court final decisions is a matter requiring constitutional amendment, not legislative revision. Introducing what amounts to a de facto 'fourth trial' by circumventing the constitutional framework is clearly unconstitutional."
They added: "'Protecting the weak' is merely a slogan—ultimately, this will become a tool for 'the powerful to buy time.'"
On the newly proposed crime of judicial distortion, they warned: "This is dangerous penal legislation that undermines the principle of legality. Imposing criminal punishment without clear standards for what constitutes 'distortion' directly violates the clarity principle of nulla poena sine lege."
"If defensive indictments and defensive rulings become prevalent in cases with limited evidence, such as sexual violence and child abuse cases, due to awareness of 'punishment risk,' the practical functions of investigation and trial will inevitably be diminished," they cautioned. "Ultimately, ordinary citizens without power will bear the full brunt of the damage."
Regarding the proposal to expand the Supreme Court bench, they argued: "Increasing the number of Supreme Court justices to 26, with President Lee appointing 22 of them, can only be seen as an intent to control the judiciary. If the president—a party with direct interest—exercises broad appointment authority over the Supreme Court's composition, judicial independence will be seriously compromised."
The former bar association leaders emphasized that the three bills "each contain serious constitutional concerns individually, and collectively represent a harmful revision that fundamentally shakes Korea's judicial structure and the separation of powers."
"Exercising the right to request reconsideration of bills with clearly unconstitutional elements is a constitutional duty of the president," they stated. "We strongly urge the president to immediately exercise veto power over the three judicial bills to protect the constitutional order and judicial independence."