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Cho Hee-dae, a former Supreme Court justice with strong conservative leanings, was nominated by South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol on Wednesday to be the top court’s next chief justice.

The chief justice’s final appointment is to come after a National Assembly confirmation hearing and an appointment ratification vote at the assembly’s plenary session.

Explaining the factors behind the 66-year-old Cho’s selection during a briefing that day at the presidential office in Seoul’s Yongsan area, Yoon’s chief of staff, Kim Dae-ki, said, “He has shown reasonable and fair judgment as a judge who has dedicated his life to guaranteeing the citizens’ right to trial, and as a Supreme Court justice and theorist of principles with a reputation for uprightness in terms of laws and principles.”

Kim also said Cho has “led the way in upholding the rights of the socially disadvantaged and minorities.”

“In that regard, he was deemed to be the right person to swiftly restore trust in the judiciary as he leads it in a manner based on principles, justice, and common sense,” he continued.

A native of Gyeongju, North Gyeongsang Province, who studied in the 13th class of the Judicial Research and Training Institute, Cho was a judge with the Seoul Criminal District Court and a presiding judge with the Daegu District Court, Seoul District Court, Busan High Court, and Seoul High Court before serving as the district court chief judge of the Daegu District Court.

In March 2014, he began a six-year tenure on the Supreme Court. Since stepping down, he has been a chair professor at Sungkyunkwan University Law School.

Yoon nominated Lee Gyun-yong, a presiding judge at the Seoul High Court, to serve as chief justice of the Supreme Court on Aug. 22, but the bill for Lee’s appointment was voted down by the main opposition Democratic Party, which holds a majority in the National Assembly, on Oct. 6. As of Wednesday, the position of chief justice had been vacant for 46 days now, since previous chief justice Kim Myeong-su finished his term on Sept. 24.

Yoon reportedly decided to nominate Cho for chief justice because his judicial opinions have been more conservative than those of the other candidates under consideration.

While Yang Sung-tae, an appointee of former president Park Geun-hye, was serving as chief justice, Cho generally sided with the majority. But after Kim Myeong-su was named chief justice by Park’s successor as president, Moon Jae-in, Cho either sided with the minority or offered a separate dissenting opinion in one of every two cases tried by the full court.

Cho has consistently shown that he prioritizes national security and regime preservation over personal freedom. When the Supreme Court overturned a law criminalizing conscientious objection to military service in 2018, for example, Cho joined the minority in arguing that conscientious objectors should still be punished.

Yoon’s presidential office said it hurried to complete the nomination process so that the new chief justice could be confirmed by the National Assembly before its regular session concludes on Dec. 9. But the presidential office noted that vetting a new candidate had taken 33 days since it had to start from scratch after Lee Gyun-yong’s nomination was rejected by the National Assembly.

Even if Cho is confirmed as chief justice, he won’t be able to complete the standard six-year term because he’ll reach his mandatory retirement age in June 2027, just three years and six months from now. Considering that Yoon’s own term in office ends in May 2027, there may be a debate about who has the authority to nominate the next chief justice.

By Kim Mi-na, staff reporter

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