BANGOR, Maine — A delegation of South Korean judges and clerks spent Monday at U.S. District Court learning about the American judicial system.
The seven judges and five clerks from the Republic of Korea came to Bangor at the invitation of U.S. District Judge John Woodcock. He visited South Korea in September to learn about that nation’s court system.
Wan-Joo Choe, the presiding judge of the Seoul Central District Court, said through an interpreter that the purpose of the visit was to learn about the American jury trial system. South Korea has had jury trials only for the past two years, he said.
The delegation had planned to observe a jury trial in Bangor, but the criminal trial scheduled to begin Monday was continued to Jan. 4. Instead, they heard presentations from U.S. Attorney Paula Silsby and Federal Public Defender David Benneman about their roles in jury trials. The group also learned about the federal Elec-tronic Case Filing system. Courts in South Korea are in the process of creating an e-filing system.
“The most striking difference between the jury system in the United States and Korea is that now in Korea a jury verdict is merely advisory to a judge,” Choe said. “The reason the verdict is only advisory is because the Korean Constitution states that only a judge may issue a verdict or a judgment.”
Choe said that although some people support amending the constitution to make verdicts binding, they are not yet a majority in the nation. He said that in South Korea, as in the U.S., amending the constitution is a complicated process.
The appellate process is similar in both nations, he said.
“Just like in the U.S., either party may appeal a verdict based on an issue of law or procedure,” the judge said. “In Korea, however, cases also may be appealed on the facts of a case.”
Appellate courts in the U.S. focus on matters of law and court procedure but rarely on the facts of a case.
Choe said this was his first visit to Maine, but added that he and his family visited Washington, D.C., about seven years ago.
South Korea has six types of courts — the Supreme Court, High Court, District Court, Patent Court, Family Court and Administrative Court, according to a booklet about the South Korean judiciary published in English and presented Monday to Woodcock and the Bangor Daily News.
Choe’s position in Seoul appears to be the equivalent of Woodcock’s in Maine, where he is serving a seven-year term as chief judge. Cases out of federal court in Maine may be appealed to the U.S. 1st Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston, then to the U.S. Supreme Court. Cases in the Seoul Central District Court may be appealed to the Seoul High Court, then to the Supreme Court of Korea.
The South Korean delegation is scheduled to visit federal courts in Washington, D.C., and the California Supreme Court before heading home at the end of the week.
Woodcock said Monday that his visit to South Korea and the South Korean delegation’s visit to Maine was paid for with private funds, not U.S. tax dollars.