Jeong Jeong-mi

Jung Jungmi (; born May 24, 1969) is a South Korean jurist who serves as a justice of the Constitutional Court of Korea. She was nominated by Supreme Court Chief Justice Kim Myeong-su on March 6, 2023, and officially appointed to the court by national President Yoon Suk Yeol on April 17, 2023. She is the sixth woman to serve on the Constitutional Court.

Jung was born and raised in Busan. After graduating from the Seoul National University College of Law and 25th class of the Judicial Research and Training Institute, she began her career as a judge for the in 1996. For the next 27 years, she served as a judge for courts in the areas of Seoul, South Chungcheong, Daejeon, and Jeonju. In 2023, she was nominated and appointed to the Constitutional Court as a replacement for Justice Lee Suk-tae. During her tenure on the court, she has been classified as moderate judge.

Early life and education Jung was born on May 24, 1969, in Busan, the third of five children that included two brothers and two sisters. Jung's parents were originally from Hadong, South Gyeongsang Province and had moved to Busan prior to Jung's birth. Jung then attended the Seoul National University College of Law, graduating in 1993. Jung passed the 35th bar examination in the same year and graduated from the 25th class of the Judicial Research and Training Institute in 1996.

Early legal career Upon graduation from the Judicial Research and Training Institute, Jung was hired as a judge for the . In 2019, Jung was promoted to the Daejeon High Court. After she died from the abuse, he hid her body in an icebox for twenty days.

Constitutional Court of South Korea (2023–present)

Nomination In January 2023, the South Korea Supreme Court formed a Constitutional Court Justice Candidate Recommendation Committee to recommend replacements for Justice Lee Seon-ae, whose term of office ended March 2023, and Justice Lee Suk-tae, whose term of office ended April 2023. On February 28, 2023, Jung was one of the eight candidates recommended by the committee, a list which also included Chief Judges Kim Hyungdu and of the Seoul High Court, Chief Judge Kim Heung-jun of the , Chief Judge of the , Chief Judge of the , Chief Judge Noh Gyeong-pil of the , and Ha Myeong-ho, a professor at Korea University Law School.

On March 6, 2023, Supreme Court Chief Justice Kim Myeong-su nominated Jung as the replacement for Justice Lee Suk-tae. Of the incumbent Constitutional Court justices, four including Justices Yoo Nam-seok, Moon Hyungbae, Kim Kiyoung, and Lee Mison were members of progressive research organizations. During the hearing, members of both the Democratic Party and People Power Party questioned Jung on whether the government's third-party compensation proposal for victims of Japanese forced labor violated the Supreme Court's compensation ruling. In declining to criticize the proposal, Jung stated "the Supreme Court ruling declared the debtor's responsibility, and I think that the actual process of receiving the money and realizing the payment could be separate areas." Jung also expressed support for requiring face-to-face hearings for the issuance of search-and-seizure warrants. While Jung was serving on the Daejeon District Court as a chief judge, Jung reportedly submitted an agricultural management plan to local authorities that claimed Jung would be farming the property with her own labor. On April 17, 2023, Jung received an official letter of appointment to the court from President Yoon Suk Yeol.

Tenure During her tenure on the court, Jung has generally been rated as a moderate and orthodox jurist. But while some news outlets have classified her a moderate conservative, others have pointed to some of her recent rulings to suggest she is a moderate that leans progressive.

Impeachment rulings Within months of joining the court, Jung joined a unanimous majority in dismissing the National Assembly's impeachment of Lee Sang-min, the Minister of the Interior and Safety. While the National Assembly had sought to hold Lee responsible for the 2022 Seoul Halloween crowd crush, the Constitutional Court held Lee "did not commit a serious violation of the Constitution or the law." The National Assembly had initially impeached Ahn for the retaliatory prosecution of a Seoul city official.

Political Parties Act On September 26, 2023, the Constitutional Court addressed whether a ban on the establishment of regional political parties in the Political Parties Act was an unconstitutional restriction. While a majority of five justices, including Jung, determined the law was unconstitutional because it created "a risk of blocking grassroots democracy by excluding the emergence of political parties that can actively reflect political will on regional issues," they fell short of the minimum six votes required to overturn the law as unconstitutional. While this was the fourth time the provision's constitutionality was challenged, a 5–4 majority held the provision was constitutional while Jung joined Justices Kim Kiyoung, Moon Hyungbae, and Lee Mison in dissenting. While the 36-month period for alternative, non-military service was greater than the period required for active military service under South Korea's mandatory conscription system, the majority held it was appropriate to remove the incentive for avoiding military service. In a 5–4 decision, the court determined the action was untimely because the alleged infringement had already occurred. While Jung joined four justices in also finding the Act's emissions reduction targets for 2030 to be inadequate and unconstitutional, they lacked the six votes required to overturn this portion of the Act.

Personal life In 1997, Jung married Kim Byeong-sik, a fellow trainee at the Judicial Research and Training Institute who was later hired as a judge for the Seoul District Court in 1999. Together, they have three daughters.