권력분립 원리와 사법권 독립

Korea has been making efforts to democratize the society for 30 years since 1987. As a result, Korea's democracy is estimated to be maintained at a relatively high level, and the level of judicial independence is also highly evaluated. Despite this external evaluation, however, the controversy over the judiciary continues in Korea. Is the independence of the trial sufficiently guaranteed in Korea? Is there a fair trial without unjustifiable intervention or influence within the internal system of the judiciary as well as the influence of external agencies such as the judiciary or the administration? The purpose of this study is to analyze whether the independence of the judiciary is properly performed in Korea. To this end, it examined the importance of judicial independence in a democratic society based on an understanding of the principle of separation of powers. And this study pointed out that the judiciary should also secure democratic legitimacy as the authority constituted by the principle of national sovereignty and insisted a harmonization of judicial independence and accountability. Based on this, we analyzed the present status and problems of the judicial independence in two ways: internal and external independence. This could be the basis for restoring public confidence in the judiciary.