Suwon Mayor Yeom Tae-young Requests Prompt Processing of 'Gyeonggi High Court Bill'

Suwon Mayor Yeom Tae-young held consecutive meetings on the 18th with National Assembly members from the Legislation and Judiciary Committee and emphasized the necessity of establishing a Gyeonggi High Court.

According to the city on the 20th, Mayor Yeom held consecutive meetings with Democratic Party Law and Justice Committee Chairman Park Young-sun, New Frontier Party committee member and subcommittee chair Kim Kwon Sung-dong, Rep. Jeon Hae-chul, Rep. Seo Young-gyo, and others, requesting the prompt processing of the "Amendment to the Act on the Establishment and Jurisdiction of Courts of All Levels," jointly submitted with the core provision of establishing a Gyeonggi High Court that has been pending in the law review subcommittee of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee for 1 year and 8 months.

In particular, Mayor Yeom stated, "In my meeting with Rep. Kwon Sung-dong, chair of Law Review Subcommittee No. 1, I obtained a promise that the bill will be reviewed during the National Assembly Law and Justice Committee No. 1 Subcommittee meeting scheduled for the 26th," adding "the stalled attraction of the Gyeonggi High Court is expected to gain momentum."

At this meeting, Mayor Yeom presented a solution to address the budget issue for establishing the Gyeonggi High Court, which had become the biggest obstacle to the bill's passage. Specifically, by utilizing state-owned land, land acquisition costs (7.99 billion won), which represent 62% of total required budget, can be reduced, requiring only 4.87 billion won, which is 32% of construction costs. Mayor Yeom also expressed the opinion that there would be no difficulty in securing the budget through continuous consultations with central government ministries.

Additionally, Mayor Yeom emphasized that the establishment of the Gyeonggi High Court is necessary because the Suwon District Court handles the most cases among the 19 district courts nationwide, and a Gyeonggi High Court handling only cases within the jurisdiction of the Suwon District Court is also feasible. He stressed the necessity of guaranteeing the rights of Gyeonggi Province residents to receive swift trials.

Meanwhile, the "Amendment to the Act on the Establishment and Jurisdiction of Courts of All Levels," jointly submitted by National Assembly members Kim Jin-pyo and Won Yu-cheol on June 22, 2012, with the core provision of establishing a Gyeonggi High Court, has been pending for 1 year and 8 months without being processed by the Law Review Subcommittee No. 1 of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee.