The National Court Administration is responsible for general administrative affairs of the court. It handles general administrative affairs, which are growing increasingly complex and diversified.

The Minister of National Court Administration, under the direction and supervision of the Chief Justice, is responsible for all the tasks of the Institution as well as administrative affairs of the court. The Vice Minister assists the Minister in implementing all work of the Institution. The Chief Justice appoints the Minister of National Court Administration and the Vice Minister. The Minister does not need to be a judge. The Vice Minister is appointed among those who are judges. The Minister and the Vice Minister have the right to attend and speak in the National Assembly or the State Council if the issue is related to court administrative affairs. The defendant of an administrative lawsuit against a disposition made by the Chief Justice shall be the Minister of National Court Administration. The Minister and the Vice Minister are supported by Chiefs of the respective Office or Bureau, and Director Generals or Directors of a Department or Division.

The National Court Administration (NCA), headed by the Minister and followed by the Vice Minister, is comprised of four Offices and three Bureaus, Inspector General for Judicial Ethics, Director General for Personnel Affairs, Director General for Public Relations, and Director General of Security Management. Planning and Coordination Office overlooks court activity planning and coordination, international affairs, judicial budget request and execution, organization reform, and court facilities management. Judicial Procedure Office is responsible for trial systems improvement including revision of trial procedure regulations. Judicial Policy Office is in charge of conducting research and studies of judicial system and policies. Administrative Management Office is responsible for executing general administrative affairs including Supreme Court facility management, finance, and human resources management. The Registration Bureau overlooks real estate and corporation registration, family registration, and deposit. The Judicial IT Bureau is responsible for managing and developing judicial IT system. The Supreme Court Litigation Bureau is responsible for receiving cases, managing case records and general supervision over court officials in courts of all levels.
Inspector General for Judicial Ethics conducts activities and measures with regard to enhancing overall judicial ethics. Director General for Personnel Affairs handles personnel matters of court employees, Director General for Public Relations overlooks public relations of the judiciary and Director General of Security Management, prepares counter measures in case of a state emergency.

Established under the Supreme Court, the Judicial Research and Training Institute (JRTI) provide both theoretical and practical training to judges, and judicial trainees admitted by the Supreme Court. The Institute opened on January 1, 1971. JRTI also provides classes for those specially requested by the government.

The JRTI is comprised of President, Vice President, professors and lecturers. The President of JRTI, under the direction and supervision of the Chief Justice, handles all the tasks of the Institute and supervises all its staff members. The President is appointed by the Chief Justice among the judges with the rank of Chief Judge of a high court. The Vice President assists the President in carrying out the duties of the Institute. The Chief Justice appoints the Vice President from among the public prosecutors with the rank of Chief Prosecutor. The Chief Justice also appoints professors from among judges, public prosecutors, lawyers, or others with a qualifying degree.

The current complex located in Ilsan, west of Seoul, went into construction in September 1998 and was completed in October 2001. The land area is approximately 83,000 square meters and the total building area, 60,000 square meters.
The JRTI complex is comprised of several buildings, which are the main building (classrooms, library included), gymnasium (welfare facilities, auditorium included), trainee dormitory, and judge training center.

The Judicial Policy Research Institute (JPRI) was established on March 10, 2014 as a separate and independent research institute to conduct multifaceted research on the judiciary and to provide policy suggestions.

In response to rapidly changing judicial environment involving the increase in new types of legal disputes and the expansion of judicial exchanges, the Institute analyzes judicial system and designs appropriate judicial policies that Korean judiciary should pursue in the future.

The JPRI is comprised of President, research fellows and the administration office. The President supervises the overall administration and operation of the Institute and submits yearly research plan to the Chief Justice for approval. Researchers include both judge and non-judge research fellows and visiting scholars with extensive professional experience and knowledge from their respective fields.

The JPRI’s goal is to ensure and improve public accessibility to the judiciary and assist the judiciary to leap beyond its conventional function of dispute-resolution and expand the welfare-providing and supportive judicial activities for the resolution of social disputes and the integration of the society.

The JPRI is composed of five research centers with specific goals: (1) Future Judicial Policy Center conducts medium and long term research on the judicial and trial system; (2) Integrated Judicial Center pursues intra-organizational collaboration and integrated judicial research with related studies such as legal psychology, legal economics, etc.; (3) Legal Education Center provides supportive measures for legal education for the public; (4) Judicial Center for Unification conducts judicial research in preparation for the unification of the two Koreas to support post-unification judicial system; and (5) Foreign Judicial Center conducts research on foreign judicial system and supports the research works of the Future Judicial Policy Center.

The Training Institute for Court Officials (TICO) plans and provides training and development programs for court clerks, marshals and other staff members of the Judiciary who are deemed necessary by the Chief Justice (the staff members of the Constitutional Court, Korea Legal Aid Corporation, the family relationship register office, and etc). The Institute was founded on September 1, 1979.

TICO is comprised of President, professors, and lecturers. The President (vice-minister level) carries out all the tasks of the Institute under the direction of the Chief Justice and supervises all the staff members of the Institute. A court official appointed as a professor becomes director level and a court official appointed as a lecturer becomes deputy-director level, which are equivalent to court official grade IV and V respectively.

Having relocated to the new location near Ilsan Lake Park in February 2001, the Institute consists of main building, lecture hall, auditorium and dormitory. The land area is approximately 39,000 square meters and the total building area is 20,700 square meters.

TICO programs consist of management level training, job training and special training

Management level training program is composed of a policy innovation training (for court officials higher than grade III), a leadership innovation training (for court officials promoted as grade IV), an entry-level management innovation training (for court officials passed a grade V promotion test), and a service innovation training (for court officials lower than grade V). A specialized program made by outside institution is used for this management level training to meet the need of each level court officials.

Job training programs consist of three courses: basic, practical and professional. The basic course is designed for new court officials who passed the grade V or IX open competitive examination and officials who passed the grade VII promotion test. The program is practical task oriented so that officials can sufficiently perform their tasks immediately after the training.

The practical course is geared toward to enhance practical working skills of court officials who are already in office. The practical course is composed of entry-level practical course (for court officials grade VIII and IX), middle-level practical course (for court officials grade VI and VII), and high-level practical course (for court officials grade V).

The professional course is provided to grade V to VII court officials who perform their duties under their authority. The officials include officials for trial participation, registration, deposit, and others. Enhancing the professional skills for the court officials, the professional course covers the fields of civil proceedings, criminal proceedings, petition, execution, real property registration, commercial registration, family registration, deposit, bankruptcy, etc. The professional course consists of a lecture, discussion and presentation.

Special training programs include theory education and information technology training for officials working at particular posts such as family investigation officers, court guards, execution officers, office workers of execution office, family relationship register officials from the executive branch and others.

The Supreme Court Library manages and provides judicial resources such as court decisions, statutes, literary collections, and historical records of the Judiciary, etc., and conducts research, and collects and compiles the above judicial resources, in order to assist trial-related affairs and to contribute to legal culture development.

The Library's publications include: Collection of Supreme Court Decisions, Commentaries on Supreme Court Decisions, Collection of Grand Bench Decisions of the Supreme Court, Summaries of the Supreme Court Decisions, Supreme Court Reports, Lower Court Reports (trial and appellate courts), Supreme Court Law Review, and Judicial Materials.

The President, under the direction of the Chief Justice, heads the Supreme Court Library. The President supervises library staff members and provides guidance and assistance to the libraries at all court levels. The President is assisted by the Director Generals for Judicial Research. The roles of Director Generals include organizing library plans, conducting research and studies, carrying out assessment and evaluation projects and other duties assigned by the President.

The Supreme Court Library is located in the Supreme Court building, with a branch library in the Seoul High Court. The Supreme Court Library and the branch library have a total collection of more than 300,000 volumes. The total collections of local court libraries nationwide, which are under the supervision of the Supreme Court Library, amount to approximately 1,300,000 volumes.

In accordance with the amendment of the Court Organization Act on April 27, 2007, the Sentencing Commission was established as an independent agency in the Supreme Court on April 27, 2007 to implement fair and objective sentencing practices to strengthen public trust toward the judiciary. The Commission is responsible for establishing or revising sentencing guidelines, and researching and analyzing related sentencing policies.

The Commission is comprised of 13 members including the Chairperson and one Standing Commissioner. The Chairperson is appointed by the Chief Justice among those with not less than 15 years of experience as a legal profession such as a judge, public prosecutor, or lawyer. The Chief Justice appoints the Commissioners among those who are engaged in professional legal sector such as judges, public prosecutors, lawyers, etc. Public prosecutors and lawyers require recommendation from the Minister of Justice and the President of the Korean Bar Association respectively. A commissioner serves a two-year term and can serve multiple terms.

To perform specialized research the Commission can also bring in less than 15 non-standing commissioners. Currently, judges, public prosecutors, lawyers, professors and other professionals can be appointed as non-standing commissioners.

The General Secretariat Office of the Commission provides the necessary administrative support and assistance.

The sentencing guidelines are not mandatory but must be respected by judges in rendering decisions as which to the category and period of sentencing should be involved. Therefore, in line, the reasons for departing from the guideline must be provided in the decisions.

The Sentencing Commission set individual and gradual guideline criteria based on comparative study of foreign sentencing guideline systems. The Commission’s guidelines reflect public opinions through public hearings, canvassing the comments of the concerned public offices and councils of advisory members.

On July 1, 2009, the 1st Sentencing Commission established sentencing guidelines for crimes of homicides, bribery, sexual assault, robbery, embezzlement and breach of trust, perjury, and false accusation. Furthermore, the 2nd Commission has provided sentencing guidelines on crimes of abduction and inducement, fraud, larceny, official and private documents, obstruction of the performance of official duties, foods and health, and narcotics on July 1, 2011. The 3rd Commission established and applied sentencing guidelines for crimes related to securities and finance, infringement of intellectual property rights, violence, and traffic crimes on July 1, 2012; election crimes on September 1, 2012; and crimes related to tax, and crimes of extortion, and arson on July 1, 2013, establishing approximately 78% of sentencing guidelines for total cases indicted.

The 4th Commission commenced its term on April 27, 2013. The Commission newly established sentencing guidelines on the crimes of receiving or giving bribery by breach of trust, violation of the Attorneys-at-Law Act, sexual trafficking, and crimes on unlawful arrest, confinement, abandonment or cruelty and started their application from July 1, 2014 or from October 1, 2014. The 4th Commission deliberated the articulation of sentencing guidelines on crimes of obstructing another from exercising one's right, gambling, acquiring stolen property, and destroying or damaging property. After the work was completed, the percentage of applicable sentencing guidelines to total prosecuted crimes reached to 87.6%.

The 5th Commission commenced its term on April 27, 2015. In its first year, the Commission has newly established sentencing guidelines on various crimes, including the violation of the Labor Standard Act and manslaughter by negligence. In addition, the commission works on revising the existing sentencing guidelines on the crimes of larceny, stolen property and traffic offenses. In the second year, the Commission will establish sentencing guidelines on the crimes of currency and securities, flight and harboring a criminal, and violation of Credit Business Act. Also, it will revise the current sentencing guidelines on the crimes of obstruction of the performance of official duties and perjury. After the completion of the work, the percentage of applicable sentencing guidelines to total prosecuted crimes is expected to reach to 90.7%.