The National Court Administration(NCA) under the Supreme Court has begun a regulatory review on whether it was appropriate for Chief Justice Kim Myeong-su to refuse to accept the resignation of senior judge Lim Seong-geun last year.

According to sources within the judiciary on Monday, the NCA is reviewing the scope of interpretation for a clause regarding restrictions on accepting judges' resignations.

The clause stipulates cases under which a judge's resignation can be rejected, one of which includes when a judge has been notified of an ongoing investigation by the prosecution or the police into an alleged unlawful act.

The clause, however, exempts cases where it is deemed that retaining the judge after he or she has been indicted could damage public trust in the courts.

The chief justice is under fire for falsely denying that he rejected Lim's resignation last May. He later issued an apology after an audio recording showed Kim had denied Lim's offer to step down, citing as reason the ruling camp's plan to seek impeachment.

Lim, who was acquitted of judicial power abuse charges stemming from the previous Park Geun-hye administration was impeached by parliament last week.