Court rulings available in English

Korean citizens find it difficult enough to access court rulings due to limited data and complicated legal expressions, but for foreigners these are not major ostacles.

The Supreme Court library has in fact been providing an English database, though yet limited in content and not well recognized by the public, on major court rulings, according to officials.

The English version of the Supreme Court website (http://eng.scourt.go.kr) lists a selection of some 300 important cases heard from 2000-2009.

The rulings are so far limited to the Supreme Court, especially those involving international legal issues or foreigners, according to officials.



"The English database, though not as widely scoped as the Korean version, may actually be of great use to foreign national lawsuit parties," said an official of the Supreme Court.

"The problem is that few in Korea are aware of the system."

The online visitor analysis showed that many legal experts, especially law firms, have been referring to data from abroad, said the official.

In a globalizing society, the English database calls for further development and investment but the project faces various restrictions, according to Supreme Court officials.

"The judicial language used in court rulings may not just be translated as any other ordinary text," said the official.

"The manpower pool of those actually capable of properly putting the court`s expressions into English is quite limited."

(tellme@heraldm.com)



By Bae Hyun-jung