Understanding South Korea’s Legal Distortion Law: Key Changes and Implications for the Judiciary

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On March 12, the first day the three judicial reform laws took effect—including a new offense for “distorting the law,” a trial-review petition system, and an increase in the number of Supreme Court justices—Chief Justice Cho Hee-dae became the subject of a police complaint alleging violation of the law-distortion statute.

The National Police Agency said it received a complaint seeking criminal penalties against Chief Justice Cho and Justice Park Young-jae (the former head of the Court Administration Office) under the law-distortion statute, and it assigned the matter to the Yongin Dongbu Police Station in Gyeonggi Province.

The complainant, attorney Lee Byung-chul, alleges that Chief Justice Cho deliberately distorted the Criminal Procedure Act when, in May of last year, he overturned an appellate court’s not-guilty verdict in the case accusing President Lee Jae-myung of violating the Public Official Election Act and remanded the case.

The Supreme Court took the case on March 28 and, 34 days later on May 1, reversed the appellate court’s acquittal and sent the matter back to the Seoul High Court.

Lawmakers in the ruling party criticized the decision as rushed, arguing it would have been impossible to review tens of thousands of pages of case records in roughly a month. Justice Park served as the presiding justice on the case before it was referred to the full bench. The Supreme Court has countered that it conducted a thorough review of the records.

The newly enacted law‑distortion offense, promulgated and enforced that day, criminalizes judges or prosecutors who, during trials or investigations, distort the law to unlawfully or unjustly confer benefits on others or harm their rights. Penalties include up to 10 years in prison and up to a 10‑year suspension of professional qualifications.