This essay introduces and evaluates the phenomenon of judicial governance in South Korea by the example of Amendment Bill to the Administrative Litigation Act proposed by the Korean Supreme Court in 2006. In this bill, the Korean Supreme Court attempts to expand its own power by changing the standing requirement for an administrative lawsuit from having a “statutory interest” to having a “legally just interest.” Invoking the institutional capacity of courts, this essay argues that this bill not only violates the principle of separation of powers, but disrupts the inner dynamics of representative democracy by allowing courts to reconsider defeated proposals. The democratic process will then be forced to reopen and become an endless cycle. It is the legislature, rather than courts, that is better equipped to coordinate conflicting values in a plural society.

Standing of Administrative Litigation; Separation of Powers; Legitimacy of Judicial Governance; Coordination