서기석 徐基錫
Justice of the Constitutional Court (2013-2019), former Chief Judge of Seoul Central District Court and KBS board chair
| Life | 1953 |
| Era | 현대 |
| Clan | 달성 서씨 |
Life & career
Seo Gi-seok (Seo Ki-seog, 徐基錫, born 19 February 1953) is a South Korean jurist of the Dalseong Seo clan, born in Hamyang County, South Gyeongsang. He graduated from Gyeongnam High School and Seoul National University College of Law and its graduate school, passed the 21st bar examination and completed the 11th class at the Judicial Research and Training Institute. After military legal service he became a judge at the Seoul District Court Southern Branch in 1981 and served as a judge in various courts, a research judge at the Supreme Court, a researcher at the Constitutional Court and chief presiding judge in Daejeon, the Seoul Administrative Court and the Seoul High Court.
He was chief judge of the Cheongju, Suwon and Seoul Central District Courts and sat on the Constitutional Court from March 2013 to 18 April 2019. He co-authored the Annotated Civil Act and the Annotated Civil Execution Act, was the first president of the court's Constitutional Law Research Society and a vice president of the Administrative Law Case Research Society. Wikipedia notes that, having studied at Keio University in Japan on a court dispatch, he is regarded as a leading expert on Japanese law in the judiciary. As presiding judge of the Seoul Administrative Court he is known to have ordered the disclosure of investigation records in the case of two schoolgirls killed by a US military vehicle.
On the Constitutional Court he dissented from the majority, which upheld a Road Traffic Act provision punishing drunk driving outside roads the same as on roads (case 2015Hun-Ga11), arguing that police intrusion into private life must be kept to a minimum. In February 2018 he gave a special lecture on Korea's constitutional adjudication at the University of São Paulo law school in Brazil. After leaving the Court he worked as endowed professor at Hanyang University Law School and as a partner lawyer, and from August 2023 to March 2026 chaired the KBS board of directors. Because opinions on rulings differ by case, only public career records are given.
Judicial Career
He became a judge in 1981 and served as a Supreme Court research judge, a Constitutional Court researcher and chief judge of several district courts.
Constitutional Court Justice
He sat on the Constitutional Court from March 2013 to April 2019 and dissented from the majority in case 2015Hun-Ga11.
After the Court
He worked as an endowed professor at Hanyang University Law School and as a lawyer, and chaired the KBS board from August 2023 to March 2026.