China's top judge Wang Shengjun said on Tuesday that the Supreme People's Court will "improve education of work ethics" to judges as a way to weed out judicial corruption.

Wang said judicial corruption has seriously damaged the credibility of China's judicial system and resulted in "very bad" social impacts.

"Some judges have poor work ethics. A handful of them resort to fraudulent practices for personal gain, pervert justice for bribes and live a dissolute lifestyle," he said, when delivering a work report to the National People's Congress (NPC), the parliament.

A total of 712 officials from courts at various levels in China were punished for breaking laws or disciplines in 2008, Wang said. Among them, 105 faced criminal charges.

(Xinhua News Agency March 10, 2009)