Justice of the Constitutional Court of Korea

Justice of the Constitutional Court of Korea
헌법재판소 재판관 (Korean)
Emblem of the Constitutional Court
Flag of the Constitutional Court of Korea
Nine inaugural justices of the Court in 1988
Constitutional Court of Korea
Style	Your Honor
Status	Justice
Member of	Council of Constitutional Court Justices
Seat	Jongno, Seoul
Appointer	President of South Korea
Term length	Six years, renewable
Constituting instrument	Constitution of South Korea
Formation	1 September 1988; 35 years ago (1988-09-01)
Website	Official english website

The Constitutional Court of Korea is one of two highest courts in court system of South Korea. It is composed of nine Constitutional Court Justices (Korean: 헌법재판소 재판관; Hanja: 憲法裁判所 裁判官; RR: Heonbeopjaepanso Jaepangwan), and one of them is the 'President of the Court'. The exact number of Constitutional Court Justices is determined by article 111(2) of the Constitution of South Korea.^[1]

By article 111(2) of the Constitution, all of the Constitutional Court Justices are appointed by the President of South Korea. However, following article 111(3) of the Constitution, three of the Constitutional Court Justices should be appointed from candidates selected by the National Assembly, and another three of Constitutional Court Justices should be appointed from candidates nominated by the Supreme Court Chief Justice. Thus, only three of nine Constitutional Court Justices are directly appointed by the President of South Korea. They serve for renewable term of six-year under article 112(1) of the Constitution, yet there are only two Justices who tried to renew their term because it could eventually harm judicial independence by amplifying influence of the President of South Korea on the Constitutional Court.

According to article 5(1) of 'Constitutional Court Act',^[2] Constitutional Court Justices should be at least 40 years old, and should also have more than 15 years of career in legal practice or academia with license of attorney at law.