After democratization, South Korea established the Constitutional Court of Korea as constitutional court independent from the old Supreme Court. Yet the exact position of the President of the Constitutional Court inside the order of precedence among Sambu-Yoin remained as potential question. Some of writers tried to call chiefs of highest constitutional institutions other than the President of the Republic of Korea, including the Constitutional Court and the National Election Committee (NEC), as Sabu-Yoin (Korean: 사부요인; lit. VIPs from four branches of the government) or Ohbu-Yoin (Korean: 오부요인; lit. VIPs from five branches of the government), as regarding the Constitutional Court as fourth branch and the National Election Committee as fifth branch of the government, even though South Korea had never regarded the Constitutional Court and the National Election Committee as separated branch of government. This continued disorder got escalated when the EOP tried to demote protocol rank of the President of the Constitutional Court under the Prime Minister, when the Constitutional Court made several decisions nullifying policies of the national President around 2004-2006. The President of the Constitutional Court boycotted some of national ceremonies to oppose such demotion, and the EOP had no choice but to restore the rank of the constitutional court President over the Prime Minister.
So in 2006, EOP declared that 5 chiefs of highest constitutional institutions other than the national President as following order: the Speaker comes first as leader of legislature, and both of the supreme court Chief and the constitutional court President comes second as co-leader of judiciary. Following rank was given to the Prime Minister as deputy leader of executive branch, and the Chair of NEC got the bottom rank as head of constitutionally independent agency. An also at the same time, EOP declared that Sabu-Yoin or Ohbu-Yoin is not a legally correct term, since South Korea is a country with a tripartite system of power separation by the Constitution, not a Five-Power Constitution as Taiwan. The EOP suggested using term 'Sambu-Yoin plus the head of constitutional institution'(Korean: 삼부요인 및 헌법기관장)[2]
Current office holders of highest constitutional institutions
^ ab고, 한석 (2020-01-08). "국회의장 아래 총리?...있는 듯 없는 '의전 서열'" [Is the Prime Minister ranked under the Speaker of the National Assembly? ... 'order of precedence' is barely noticeable in South Korea]. YTN (in Korean). Seoul. Retrieved 2023-06-19.
^ ab성, 기홍 (2006-03-29). "'3부요인 및 헌법기관장' 명칭과 의전서열" [the term 'Sambuyoin and the heads of constitutional institutions' and order of precedence in South Korea]. YonhapNews (in Korean). Seoul. Retrieved 2023-06-19.
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