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South Korea The Presidential Secretariat
The Presidential Secretariat, often referred to in the
Western media as the Blue House staff, in 1990 included a
secretary general of cabinet rank and six or seven senior
secretaries with responsibility for political, economic, and
other specialized areas. As in other political systems, these top
aides enjoyed special presidential confidence. They were widely
believed to control access to the chief executive and to
influence personnel appointments and policy decisions.
The Judiciary
The administration of justice was the function of the courts
as established under the Constitution and the much-amended Court
Organization Law of 1949. A number of provisions of the 1987
Constitution were intended to improve judicial independence,
which was long held, even within the judiciary itself, to be
inadequate
(see Events in 1988
, this ch.;
table 10, Appendix).
At the top of the court system in 1990 was the Supreme Court,
whose justices served six-year terms, giving them a measure of
independence from the president, whose single term was only five
years (lower-level judges served ten-year terms.) All other
judges were appointed by the Conference of Supreme Court Justices
and the chief justice. This process reverses the more centralized
appointment process that had been in place since the yusin
system of 1972, in which the chief justice (under the direction
of the president, in practice) appointed lower court judges. All
but the chief justice may be reappointed. The Supreme Court is
the final court of appeal in all cases, including courts-martial;
except for death sentences, however, military trials under
extraordinary martial law may not be appealed.
High Courts in Seoul, Kwangju, and Taegu hear appeals against
decisions of lower courts in civil and criminal cases. They also
may assume jurisdiction over litigation brought against
government agencies or civil officials. Courts of first instance
for most civil and criminal matters are the district courts in
Seoul and major provincial cities. The Family Court in Seoul
handles matrimonial, juvenile, and other family law matters; in
other cities such issues are adjudicated in the district courts.
The Constitution divides responsibility for constitutional
review of laws and administrative regulations between the Supreme
Court and the Constitution Court. The Supreme Court reviews only
regulations, decrees, and other enactments issued by the various
ministries of other government agencies. The constitutionality or
legality of the regulation to be reviewed must be at issue in an
ongoing trial. The Constitution Court has much broader powers. It
decides on the constitutionality of laws enacted by the National
Assembly when requested by a court to aid in the resolution of a
trial, or in response to a constitutional petition, which may be
brought by any person who has exhausted available legal remedies.
The Constitution Court also has exclusive power to rule on the
dissolution of political parties and impeachment of the
president, cabinet members, and other high officials. All nine
members of the Constitution Court must be qualified to be judges.
The president, National Assembly, and chief justice each select
three members of the court's nine-member panel.
The Constitution Court began operation in late 1988. Unlike
its predecessors, which since the early 1960s had made only three
rulings, the new body gave rulings in 400 of the more than 500
cases considered during its first year. Most of the cases heard
were constitutional petitions. In a series of major decisions,
the court declared unconstitutional a law prohibiting creditors
from suing the government, directed the National Assembly to
revise a portion of the National Assembly Law requiring
independent candidates to pay twice the deposit of partyaffiliated candidates, declared the Act Concerning Protection of
Society unconstitutional, and upheld the constitutionality of a
law prohibiting third-party involvement in labor disputes.
Data as of June 1990
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