Supreme Court decides not to discipline senior judge for 'suspicious entertainment of social gatherings'

The Supreme Court has decided not to discipline the incumbent high court chief judge, who was suspected of meeting and receiving businessmen at a social gathering.

The Office of the Supreme Court's Ethics Inspector General determined that there were no confirmed charges in relation to Chief Judge A of the Seoul High Court.

The Supreme Court also reportedly considered the fact that the businessman who arranged the meeting was cleared by the police.

Judge A was suspected of meeting businessmen seven times in 2020 when he was in charge of corporate-related trials and paying for dinner and golf meetings.

The meeting was run by the real owner of the private equity fund and dozens of former and current public officials were reportedly included in the list of attendees.

When related allegations were pointed out during the parliamentary audit of the Seoul High Court last year, Yoon Joon, head of the Seoul High Court, said that a definite investigation is needed and asked to wait for the results of the police investigation.