Source: Seoul Economic Daily

Supreme Court Justice Lee Sook-yeon presented a detailed vision of an AI-powered courtroom that would produce a daily "morning report" for judges and link parties' claims directly to relevant evidence, explain differences among precedents and supply legal literature to assist trial preparation. She delivered these remarks on 17 September at the 20th Conference of Chief Justices of Asia and the Pacific, held at the Grand Hyatt Seoul in the Yongsan district.

Lee outlined specific courtroom uses including AI drafting rulings once a judge reaches a final factual and legal determination, identifying sentencing factors and calculating recommended ranges under sentencing guidelines, and using speech recognition to record oral arguments and witness examinations. The judiciary already runs a pilot system handling more than 2,000 queries a day and plans expansion by 2028 to summarize rulings and records, identify legal issues and help prepare case review reports. An intelligent platform for AI-based criminal trials and sentencing support is scheduled in phases: first phase in October next year, a second phase in April 2028, and a third-phase expansion to be completed in December 2028, with a total project budget of 10.3 billion won. Lee stressed AI must remain a supporting tool, warned of risks such as bias, hallucination, security breaches, overreliance and budget and staffing constraints, and argued for a homegrown system to protect sensitive information — saying reliance on foreign models "requires careful review" and could affect AI sovereignty and judicial independence. She framed fairness, accuracy, reliability and judicial independence as principles that must not be compromised even as the judiciary seeks faster, more accurate dispute resolution.