Photo : YONHAP News
The National Assembly passed a bill to expand the number of Supreme Court justices on Saturday, clearing the final hurdle for three major judicial reform measures after an opposition filibuster.
At a plenary session, lawmakers approved the revision to the Court Organization Act in a 173-73 vote, with one abstention among 247 members present.
The bill, led by the ruling Democratic Party, increases the number of Supreme Court justices from 14 to 26, with the expansion scheduled to begin two years after promulgation.
Four justices will be added each year over a three‑year period until the court reaches its new size.
The change means President Lee Jae Myung is expected to appoint 22 of the 26 justices during his term.
Two other reform bills, one criminalizing legal distortion and another allowing the Constitutional Court to review court rulings, were passed earlier in the week.