Constitutional Court of Korea

37°34′41″N 126°59′05″E / 37.5780°N 126.9847°E / 37.5780; 126.9847

Constitutional Court of Korea
대한민국 헌법재판소
Emblem of the Constitutional Court of Korea
Constitutional Court of Korea in Jongno, Seoul
Established	1988; 36 years ago (1988)
Location	Jongno, Seoul
Composition method	Appointed by President upon nomination of equal portions from National Assembly, Supreme Court Chief Justice and the President
Authorized by	Constitution of South Korea Chapter VI
Judge term length	Six years, renewable (mandatory retirement at the age of 70)
Number of positions	9 (by constitution)
Website	ccourt.go.kr
President
Currently	Lee Jong-seok
Since	30 November 2023 (2023-11-30)

Constitutional Court of Korea
Logo of the Constitutional Court of Korea
Korean name
Hangul	헌법재판소
Hanja	憲法裁判所
Revised Romanization	Heonbeop Jaepanso
McCune–Reischauer	Hŏnpŏp Chaep'anso

Politics of South Korea
Government Constitution of South Korea Law Human rights
Legislature National Assembly Speaker Kim Jin-pyo (I) Deputy Speaker Kim Young-joo (P) Deputy Speaker Chung Jin-suk (P) Members
Executive President of South Korea Yoon Suk-yeol (P) Prime Minister of South Korea Han Duck-soo (I) State Council Administrative divisions
Judiciary Supreme Court of Korea Chief Justice Jo Hee-de Constitutional Court of Korea President Lee Jong-seok
Elections Presidential elections Legislative elections Local elections By-elections
Political parties Democratic PPP Justice Basic Income Party Transition Korea
Korean conflict Reunification Sunshine Policy
South Korea portal Other countries
v t e

The Constitutional Court of Korea (Korean: 헌법재판소; Hanja: 憲法裁判所; RR: Heonbeop Jaepanso) is one of the highest courts—along with the Supreme Court—in South Korea's judiciary that exercises constitutional review, seated in Jongno, Seoul. The South Korean Constitution vests judicial power in courts composed of judges, which establishes the ordinary-court system, but also separates an independent constitutional court and grants it exclusive jurisdiction over matters of constitutionality. Specifically, Chapter VI Article 111(1) of the South Korean Constitution specifies the following cases to be exclusively reviewed by the Constitutional Court:^[1]

1. The constitutionality of a law upon the request of the courts;
2. Impeachment;
3. Dissolution of a political party;
4. Competence disputes between State agencies, between State agencies and local governments, and between local governments; and
5. Constitutional complaints as prescribed by [the Constitutional Court] Act.

Article 111(2) states that the Constitutional Court shall consist of nine justices qualified to be court judges, all of whom shall be appointed by the president of South Korea. Even though all nine justices must be appointed by the president, Article 111(3) states that the National Assembly and the Chief Justice shall nominate three justices each, which implies the remaining three are nominated by the president of South Korea. Article 111(4) states that the candidate for the president of the Constitutional Court must obtain the approval of the National Assembly before the President appoints them.

The South Korean Constitution broadly delineates the roles of courts, both ordinary courts and the Constitutional Court, and entrusts the National Assembly to legislate the specifics of their functions. The National Assembly, soon after the tenth constitutional amendment that ended decades of dictatorship in South Korea, passed the Constitutional Court Act (Korean: 헌법재판소법), which spells out a detailed organizational structure of the Court, establishes the hierarchy of judicial officers and their roles within the Court, and most importantly, provides ways in which people of Korea can appeal to the Court. Unlike other constitutional courts (most notably Federal Constitutional Court of Germany), a party may file a constitutional complaint directly with the Court, without having to exhaust all other legal recourse, when a particular statute infringes upon his or her constitutional rights.

Although the Constitutional Court and the Supreme Court are treated as coequal (see Article 15 of the Constitutional Court Act^[2]), the two courts have persistently come into conflict with each other over which of them is the final arbiter of the meaning of the Constitution. The Supreme Court, which is supposed to be the court of last resort, has criticized the Constitutional Court for attempting to upend the "three-tiered trial" system—referring to the conventional practice of allowing appeals up to twice—and placing itself above the Supreme Court. In 2022, the relationship between the two high courts seemingly came to a head when the Constitutional Court overturned a Supreme Court decision without declaring the relevant statute unconstitutional, holding that the statute itself does not violate the Constitution but its particular application does. The Supreme Court publicly denounced the ruling, saying that it entails the unacceptable implication that the ordinary courts' decisions fall under the Constitutional Court's jurisdiction, which subjugates the Supreme Court to the Constitutional Court.

The Constitutional Court of Korea is the seat of the Permanent Secretariat for Research and Development of the Association of Asian Constitutional Courts and Equivalent Institutions.