The Justice Shin's violation of judicial independence concerned with the so-called Candle Rally cases had taken place last year and the judges made a public disclosure of it last February. It revealed many problems in Korean judiciary and Korean people came to know that the independence of the judges had been threatened by judiciary itself that had become more and more bureaucratic. In addition, Korean people came to know that their constitutional right to have a fair trial could be intruded upon in some cases. The judicial independence could be a constitutional device to realize the constitutional right of Korean people to have a fair trial. From this stand-point of view, the malicious intervention in case by Justice Shin when he was a head of Seoul District Court as well as his arbitrary and unfair case distribution at that time could be a intrusion upon the constitutional right of Korean people to have a fair trial.
This paper examines the whole process where Justice Shin intervened in the cases regarding Candle Rally through the reports by media at first. Then it will focus on the problems in case distribution system in Korean judiciary and explore its reform measures. After that, this paper will delve into the problems in judicial personnel system which made possible the Justice Shin's violation of judicial independence focusing on the judge promotion system. And then, it will propose some reform measures to solve the problems from the bureaucracy in Korean judiciary.