Court Admin Chief: Consultations Held on Cho's Justice Picks in South Korea

The surface cause of the failed talks was a disagreement over Judge Kim Min-ki of the Seoul High Court, whom President Lee Jae-myung had picked to succeed former Justice Noh Tae-ak. But behind the scenes, the presidential office and the Supreme Court are locked in a quiet power struggle over the future composition of the bench, the. According to the Hankyoreh's reporting, the Supreme Court sent nomination proposals to the Ministry of Personnel Management around 3 p.m. the previous day, putting forward Son Bong-ki, a presiding judge at the Daegu District Court, and Kim Sung-soo, a presiding judge at the Seoul High Court, as successors to former Justice Noh (who retired in March) and Justice Lee Heung-gu, respectively.