Law School Blog
The Dean's Blog from Asia
Friday, October 13, 2006
Professors Veronica Taylor, Toshiko Takenaka, Jonathan Kang and I are traveling in Asia, continuing to develop our relationships and understanding of legal, business, and political matters here. During the next 10 days, we are visiting Korea, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. I am attempting to fill you in as it happens. So, here’s the first Dean’s Blog from Asia….
Thursday the 12th was a busy day here in Seoul. Did you know that our law school has more than 150 alumni in Korea? Our graduates and former visiting scholars are leaders in education and the legal profession here. We visited with the Dean and faculty of Korea University, one of this nation’s leading law schools. Earlier this year, our two schools signed a cooperation agreement that will permit us to develop academic workshops and conferences. Our first workshop will be held this December.
We also had an excellent tour of the Supreme Court of Korea, where we met the Minister for National Court Administration. The entire court system in Korea is coordinated by one unitary court system. Although the court was not in session, we did manage to snap a picture. There are 13 justices on the court which divides into 3 panels of 4 justices who hear and decide cases. In cases where the 4 justices hearing a case do not agree, the entire 13 member court will hear the matter. The Supreme Court of Korea receives more than 17,000 cases requesting review each year. Like our Supreme Court of the United States, their high court hears approximately 100 each year.
If that wasn’t enough in the first day here, we also visited the Ministry of Justice, Korea’s chief law enforcement agency. The Ministry is comprised of the Office of Planning and Management, the Office of Legal Affairs and the bureaus of Criminal Affairs, Social Protection and Rehabilitation, Correction, and Immigration. The Minister of Justice has the responsibility for all prosecutions, corrections, human rights protections, and immigration cases. The Korean Attorney General is the head of the Prosecutors’ Offices. There are more than 1500 prosecutors in the country. The Prosecutors’ Offices consist of the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office, the High Prosecutors’ Offices, and the District Prosecutors’ Offices. The Ministry of Justice is the chief supervisor of prosecutorial affairs and controls the prosecutors’ right to investigate matters. This model is unlike the United States, where the Attorney General assumes the positions of both Minister of Justice and Attorney General.
Now, it’s off to dinner with one of our alums. Check out the law school homepage for recent posts to the Dean’s Blog from Asia….
Dean Knight