Sanctioned judge draws backing from colleagues

Sanctioned judge draws backing from colleagues

By Yun Suh-young Some judges are protesting a court’s decision not to reinstate Seo Gi-ho as a judge after he was let go Friday for a ‘poor performance’ evaluation. They are posting critical comments on the court’s intranet bulletin, saying that Seo’s dismissal was not because of his poor performance but because he made critical comments against the Lee Myung-bak government. They insist he was unfairly let go. In December, Seo posted critical remarks about the government on Twitter, insinuating that the monitoring of his social networking account was a restriction on the freedom of expression. One judge wrote that the decision was influenced by Seo making “inappropriate comments about President Lee” and “for speaking up against the Supreme Court justice during the candlelit protests in 2009.” “It’s his inexorable comments and past action against the courts’ authority that caused the court’s personnel management screening committee to give him a low review. If he has become a judge with faults it is because of that. How can we say that judges are independent of influence from above?” said Kim Young-hoon, a judge at the Jeonju District Court. Speak up and low reviews “I used to be part of the majority who remained silent on controversial issues within the court, but now I will speak up when I feel that the court is going in the wrong direction. That’s showing my respect for the court.” Another judge, Lee Chang-hyun from the Suwon District Court, also said, “I don’t understand why Seo was not reappointed. Of course there will be judges who receive low reviews from the personnel committee but that shouldn’t be a reason to let a judge go.” Judges say those who speak up against their superiors receive low reviews. “Those who say whatever they want to say to their superiors since they were associate judges, receive low reviews from them,” another judge was quoted as saying to a reporter. In the controversial Twitter postings, Seo urged SNS users not to be “intimidated” by the government’s crackdown, or President Lee may hurt them with a bigger “insult.” “Don’t be intimidated, my fellow SNS friends. Or Gakha (his highness) will give you a bigger yeot (taffy),” Seo wrote, with “give you a bigger yeot” meaning that President Lee will cause people greater problems. He had also called for the resignation of Supreme Court Justice Shin Young-chul in 2009 when he was apparently found to have meddled in the decisions of junior judges during the trials of anti-U.S. beef protesters. Since then Seo has received poor reviews for three consecutive years.