Park Byoung-dae, chief justice of the Daejeon District Court, was named to the Supreme Court to succeed outgoing Justice Lee Hong-hoon.

If President Lee Myung-bak accepts the recommendation and the National Assembly approves it, Park will become the first graduate of a night high school to be elevated to the 13-member court, which has generally been filled with people from elite backgrounds.

Lee Hong-hoon’s term ends on June 1 and Supreme Court Chief Justice Lee Yong-hoon recommended Park on Friday.

“After reviewing opinions from legal circles and leaders from various areas, I recommended Park of the Daejeon District Court after thoroughly examining his legal knowledge, judgment, desire to serve the people and morality,” Lee Yong-hoon said.

A native of Yeongju, North Gyeongsang, Park, 54, studied law at Seoul National University. He passed the bar examination in 1979 when he was senior in college and began his career as a judge at the Seoul Civil District Court in 1985.

According to legal experts and his colleagues, Park was a country boy born into a peasant family .

Park was the youngest child of four siblings. He excelled in middle school, but almost gave up going to high school because his parents were too poor.

A middle school teacher intervened and searched for a financial supporter for Park. He found a childless couple in Seoul that was willing to support the boy’s education.

In 1972, Park went to Gyunmyeong High School in Seoul - the school changed its name to Hwanil High School in 1974 - as a night student. Park lived with the couple who paid his tuition. To Park, the couple was like his own parents.

Park went to night school because during the day he had to earn money for his family back in Yeongju. During the day, he worked as an errand boy for a local broadcaster.

He was accepted into Seoul National University School of Law, the first student from Hwanil High School to go there.

“Park was seen as slightly different from his classmates because SNU’s law department was filled with graduates from prestigious high schools,” said an attorney and Park’s classmate at college. “Park was a man with a cheerful spirit. He had lots of friends, not to mention excellent grades.”

Another classmate told the JoongAng Ilbo that not everyone knew that Park’s family was poor.

“He was my friend and I respected him because he had a big heart,” the classmate said.

Sources told the JoongAng Ilbo that Park looked after the Seoul couple after he became a judge. The couple sat with his biological parents at Park’s wedding. And he was chief mourner at the funeral of the man who helped support him.

“Park is an outstanding judge looked up to by junior judges,” said a former judge.

Park refrained from making any comments about his appointment.

“It’s not appropriate to express my position as a candidate,” Park said in an interview with the JoongAng Ilbo on Friday. “I will sincerely prepare for the National Assembly hearing.”


By Ku Hui-lyung, Kim Mi-ju [mijukim@joongang.co.kr]