SBA evaluation reveals Korea's worst judges as picked by lawyers

The Seoul Bar Association on Friday revealed its annual list of the best- and worst-ranked judges in South Korea, based on an evaluation of its members.

The list evaluated 1,402 judges across the country whom the SBA lawyers faced during their respective trials, selecting 109 judges with the highest marks and 20 who scored the lowest. Of some 22,000 members of the association, 2,341 lawyers participated in the assessment.

Gang Gyeong-pyo, a judge of the Daejeon High Court, led all categories of the assessment, scoring the perfect 100. The average score for the 109 high-scoring judges was 95.

Judge Heo Seon-a of the Seoul Family Court received a high score for the third time, while 12 judges received high scores for the second time.

The names of the worst-ranked judges -- who scored an average of 65 -- were not revealed, but some of their cases were made public.

The judge who ranked the lowest, with a score of 34.9, works at the Jeju District Court. The judge in question told a female defendant, "I saw the records at the application hearing. You are guilty. Why are you insisting otherwise?"

One judge working at the Seoul Western District Court had been given a poor score for the seventh time.

"(The judge) repeatedly mentioned undisputed facts that had already been proven by evidence, and was seen behaving in an intimidating manner or speaking sarcastically during settlements," the SBA said of the judge in question.

In another case, a judge became angry when the lawyer requested for the client's bail, saying, "Why are you applying for bail when I have no intention of setting (the defendant) free?" When the attorney attempted to speak, the judge said "I don't need to hear this."

Another poorly scoring judge is said to have constantly confused the plaintiff and the defendant.

The judge even said "The court is dismissing the request of the plaintiff," to which the defendant and the defendant's spouse offered their gratitude and left the court. Moments later, they were called back in to be told that the judge meant to dismiss the appeal by the defendant.

The SBA plans to notify the 20 low-scoring judges and the heads of their respective courts of the results of the evaluation.

By Yoon Min-sik(minsikyoon@heraldcorp.com)