In South Korea, Rapporteur Judges (Korean: 헌법연구관; Hanja: 憲法硏究官; RR: Heonbeob Yeongugwan), formerly known as 'Constitutional Research Officers') or "Constitutional Rapporteur Judges" are officials that support nine Justices in the Constitutional Court of Korea.
They exercise investigation and research for review and adjudication of cases, to prepare memoranda and draft decisions, which makes them as kind of judicial assistant for Justices in Constitutional Court of Korea.
Unlike law clerks in United States Supreme Court serving one to two years for life tenured Justices, Rapporteur Judges in South Korea serve ten-year renewable terms up to mandatory retirement age of 60 according to article 19(7) of Constitutional Court Act, while Justices in Constitutional Court of Korea serve only six-year renewable terms under article 112(1) of Constitution.
As South Korean legal system has tradition of civil law, Rapporteur Judge's role is rather more like conseillers référendaires in French Cour de Cassation, where judicial assistants are originally magistrats as lower court judges themselves, yet serving as référendaires for up to ten-years to assist conseillers who are Justices in the Cour.
[7] These Rapporteur Judges seconded from other parts of the South Korean government, such as ordinary Courts and Prosecutor's Office serve only one to two years at the Court yet expected to work as same as formally appointed Rapporteur Judges.
[11] Another difference between South Korean and Turkish Rapporteur Judges in Constitutional Court is length of term and retirement age.