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Complaint filed against Supreme Court justices on first day of judicial distortion law

Published: 12 Mar. 2026, 17:56 Updated: 12 Mar. 2026, 18:12

Chief Justice Jo Hee-de arrives for work at the Supreme Court in Seocho District, southern Seoul, on March 12, the day the government promulgated and enacted three judicial reform laws. [NEWS1]

Supreme Court Chief Justice Jo Hee-de and Justice Park Young-jae were the subject of a criminal complaint filed with police on Thursday for allegedly abusing judicial authority. The complaint came on the first day a new law criminalizing the offense took effect.

The complaint alleges that the two justices overturned a lower court ruling that had acquitted President Lee Jae Myung of violating the Public Official Election Act and sent the case back to the Seoul High Court in May of last year.

Lee Byung-chul, an attorney from the law firm Chan-Jong, confirmed that he filed a formal complaint against Jo and Park by registered mail earlier in the day.

According to the complaint, the two justices intentionally violated the Criminal Procedure Act's principle that trials must be based on written records to harm President Lee's interests, thereby committing the crime of distorting the judicial process.

The attorney argued that it would have been physically impossible for the Supreme Court justices to review more than 70,000 pages of trial records within nine days.

He had previously submitted a complaint through the government’s online petition system to the National Office of Investigation on March 2, asking authorities to punish Jo and Park for judicial distortion. Because it was filed before the law officially took effect, the move was interpreted as an attempt to have investigators accept the case once the law came into force.

However, since such advance submissions are not permitted under the current legal system, Lee Byung-chul submitted the complaint again on Thursday. The case has been assigned to the Yongin Seobu Police Precinct.

Moreover, the new law on judicial distortion cannot be applied retroactively to investigations or trials conducted before it took effect.

Supreme Court Justice Park Young-jae waits before attending a full bench ruling on a case involving alleged violations of the Act on Special Cases Concerning the Punishment of Sexual Crimes at the Supreme Court in Seocho District, southern Seoul, on March 20, 2025. [YONHAP]

The attorney, however, told the JoongAng Ilbo that the principle prohibiting retroactive punishment does not apply in this case because the alleged crime constitutes what he called a “continuing offense,” meaning the illegal state is ongoing.

If police accept Lee Byung-chul’s argument and formally book Jo as a suspect, the judiciary could face significant turmoil.

The unprecedented scenario could see the sitting head of the judiciary summoned for questioning by investigators. If prosecutors later decide to indict him, the chief justice himself could even appear as a defendant before lower courts.

Legal experts warn that decisions made by police, prosecutors or courts during the case could themselves become the subject of new complaints under the same law, potentially creating a cycle of repeated investigations and trials.

Lee Byung-chul has previously stated he would file similar complaints under the new law. For example, in a YouTube video uploaded on Feb. 28, he said that he would report Woo In-sung, a presiding judge at the Seoul Central District Court who handled a case involving former first lady Kim Keon Hee, for judicial distortion.

On Thursday, he also filed complaints against judge Ji Gwi-yeon and former Prosecutor General Shim Woo-jung over decisions related to the release of former President Yoon Suk Yeol from custody in March of last year.

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY KIM SEONG-JIN, KIM BO-REUM [[email protected]]