The chief justice of the Supreme Court of Korea is the chief justice of the Supreme Court of Korea. As presiding judge of the grand bench composed of two-thirds of fourteen Supreme Court justices, the chief represents the Supreme Court of Korea. The chief justice is regarded as one of two equivalent heads of judicial branch in Government of South Korea. Another head is the president of the Constitutional Court of Korea. The current chief justice of the Supreme Court of Korea is vacant and Supreme Court Justice Ahn Chul-sang is acting as the chief justice of the Supreme Court of Korea.

Appointment and tenure

Under chapter 5, article 104(1) of Constitution, and article 12(1) of Court Organization Act, the chief justice is appointed by the president of South Korea with the consent of the National Assembly of South Korea. While article 105(1) of Constitution sets term length of the chief justice as non-renewable single term of six-years, its mandatory age of retirement is delegated to sub-constitutional regulation by article 105(4) of Constitution. Currently, the chief justice's mandatory age of retirement is 70 by article 45(4) of Court Organization Act.

Powers and duties

As head member of the Supreme Court of Korea, the chief justice's formal main role is participating in decision of the Court as one of Supreme Court Justices. However, since most of cases in the Court are handled by three different panels or 'petty benches' each of consisting four Supreme Court justices except the chief justice, the chief cannot participate in ruling of daily cases. Rather, the chief justice only participates in 'crand bench' convened with more than two-thirds of all fourteen Justices, as presiding judge. A more substantial role of the chief justice is governing political and administrative tasks in ordinary courts, as the chief is head of hierarchy of conventional judiciary consisted of all ordinary courts in South Korea.

List of chief justices