Mr. A, a deputy chief judge at a district court in the greater Seoul area, resigned after 23 years on the bench. “I had no choice,” he said. “Even after more than 20 years as a judge, it’s hard to afford a home without going into debt. Many of my colleagues don’t even own a house.” He added that he needed more money to provide for his children’s education, so he decided to transition to private practice, which offers better pay.
A high court judge who quit around the same time shared a similar story. “I wanted to stay, but judges are not immune to recession,” he said. With his daughter’s college tuition, the responsibility of supporting his elderly parents, and the stress of living off an overdraft account, he felt he had no choice but to resign.
South Korean Judges are leaving the bench at an alarming rate. At this rate, over 100 judges could quit by the end of the year, the highest number of judicial resignations in a decade. Notably, mid-level judges with over 15 years of experience, often referred to as the backbone of the judiciary, are leading this worrying trend. While Chief Justice Cho Hee-dae has called for increasing the number of judges since he took office last December, these efforts have not been enough to prevent the departures.
According to data from the Supreme Court’s Court Administration Office obtained by Rep. Song Seokjun of the People Power party, 94 judges had left their posts by September this year. This marks a sharp increase from previous years, where 91 judges retired in 2021, 88 in 2022, and 80 in 2023.
The departure of experienced judges, such as district court deputy judges and high court judges with over 15 years of service, has been particularly noticeable. In 2019, only 33 of these judges resigned, but by September of this year, that number had surged to 72. Mid-level judicial retirements have more than doubled in the past six years, accounting for 76.5% of all retirements.
There are multiple reasons behind this mass departure. Chief among them is the stark pay disparity between judges and lawyers, especially those in large law firms. Many retiring judges entered the judiciary before the law school system was introduced, and the gap between their earnings and those of peer lawyers at big law firms is staggering. “If you’re a deputy judge or higher and move to a law firm, you can easily earn three to four times what you make as a judge,” said a former Seoul High Court judge. “In some cases, handling a few major cases can earn you a few years’ worth of a judge’s salary in just a few months.”
Judges also face the burden of mandatory rotations between provincial regions, metropolitan areas, and Seoul. The frequent rotations become cumbersome for senior judges with families as they seek stability. “Judges live with the constant anxiety of being assigned to a province at some point,” said a Seoul Central District Court judge. “When senior judges who have settled in Seoul are assigned to regional courts, many of them choose to resign instead.”
Changes in the legal profession are driving court retirements. The number of lawyers in Korea has doubled in the last decade, from 18,708 in 2014 to over 35,000 last year. The legal market is now saturated with skilled mid-career lawyers, and judges see leaving the court earlier as a strategic move to gain private sector experience.
“The court doesn’t hold the same authority as it once did, so the influence that former judges once wielded in private practice isn’t what it used to be,” a former Seoul High Court court judge said. “It’s much harder to start a law firm now than in the past. I chose to leave the court while I was still young enough to build a career in private practice.”
