Expanding the Supreme Court bench from the current 14 justices to 26 will require at least 36.8 billion won ($26 million) in additional funding over the next three years, according to court data. Each added justice also requires more support staff, including law clerks and secretaries, which will widen the burden on personnel and facilities.
Data submitted by the Supreme Court to the office of Rep. Yoon Sang-hyun of the People Power Party, a member of the National Assembly's Legislation and Judiciary Committee, showed on the 2nd that the 12-justice expansion will require a total of 36.757 billion won in additional funding. The figure excludes costs for expanding facilities.
In February this year, the National Assembly passed an amendment to the Court Organization Act raising the number of Supreme Court justices from 14 to 26, driven by the governing bloc. Under the revised law, four justices will be added each year from 2028 through 2030, for a total of 12. Support staff will increase by 312 as a result. The Supreme Court estimates that each justice requires about 26 support staff, including law clerks.
Additional personnel costs for the justices and support staff such as secretaries and assistants will total 4.382 billion won in 2028, 10.531 billion won in 2029 and 17.045 billion won in 2030. Basic operating expenses, asset purchases and vehicle leases will require another 4.8 billion won over the three years.
Staffing is a problem alongside the fiscal burden. The Democratic Party of Korea argues that adding justices will reduce caseloads and clear the backlog of appeals, but concerns have been raised that gaps could emerge in securing law clerks in particular.
A total of 132 law clerks are currently assigned to the 12 justices, excluding the chief justice and the head of the National Court Administration. That is an average of 11 per justice, of whom about 8.4 are judges. Applying the same standard, the 12-justice expansion would require 132 additional law clerks, roughly 100 of them judges.
Meeting that demand by pulling judges from lower courts would thin out front-line courts closest to people's daily lives in order to reinforce the appellate level — robbing Peter to pay Paul, critics say.
"They are pouring enormous amounts of taxpayer money into turning the Supreme Court of Korea into a court reserved for Lee Jae-myung," Yoon said. "The number of justices must be readjusted, not only because of the fiscal burden but also to prevent lower courts from being hollowed out by excessive concentration at the appellate level."
