The honorable Justice Min Il-young was born on April 15, 1955 in Yeoju-gun, Gyeonggi province. He graduated from Seoul National University majoring in law in 1978 and passed the 20th National Higher Judicial Examination in the same year.

Justice Min was first appointed as a judge of Seoul Civil District Court in September 1983. His career continued at Seoul Criminal District, Daegu High Court, the NCA (National Court Administration), Judicial Research and Training Institute, and Seoul High Court. He was later named as the President of the Supreme Court Library and Chief Judge of Cheongju District Court. On September 2009, he was appointed as a Justice of the Supreme Court of Korea.

Based on his extensive knowledge of legal theory and sensible personality, Justice Min fairly carried out trial procedures and administrative tasks. Also, as the Director of Litigation Affairs of NCA, he established the basic framework of bidding system for court auctions. Furthermore, he was the first judge to implement bidding procedure during his service as a judge in charge of auction at the Seoul Civil District Court, which eventually led to the improvement and development of the civil procedure system. Justice Min, as the President of the Supreme Court Library, successfully led the Judicial Knowledge Management Project. As the Chief Judge of Cheongju District Court, he emphasized to the judges to conduct trials with progressive minds rather than being held back by routine practices.

Justice Min's publications include A Research on Measures to Protect the Lessee when processing Property Auctions (2004), a dissertation for LL.D., Developments of and Current Procuration Measures in terms of German Civil Law (2002), Disposal by Tender for Real Estate Auctions (1994), and etc.