Yeo, Park Byeong-seok Elected as National Assembly Speaker... Kim Sang-hee Becomes First Female Deputy Speaker

On the 25th, at the elected members' general meeting held at the National Assembly to elect the Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the 21st National Assembly's first half session for the Democratic Party of Korea, Park Byeong-seok and Kim Sang-hee, who were unanimously nominated as the Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the 21st National Assembly's first half session, posed with Representative Lee Hae-chan and Floor Leader Kim Tae-nyeon. Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

[Asia Economy Reporter Kang Nahum] The Democratic Party of Korea has endorsed Representative Park Byeong-seok and Representative Kim Sang-hee as the Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the 21st National Assembly's first half, respectively.

On the 25th, the Democratic Party held a meeting of elected members at the National Assembly Members' Office Building and selected Park and Kim as candidates for Speaker and Deputy Speaker. Since both representatives were the sole candidates, their selection was made by acclamation without a vote.

Park, endorsed as the candidate for Speaker, previously served as the chief deputy spokesperson of the New Politics National Conference in 1998, head of the IMF crisis economic hearing task force, and special advisor to Kim Dae-jung. In 1999, he served as the Deputy Mayor for Political Affairs of Seoul. He was elected as a candidate of the Millennium Democratic Party in Daejeon Seo-gap in the 16th general election and has been re-elected six consecutive times. During the 19th National Assembly, he served as Deputy Speaker in the first half.

In his remarks, Representative Park emphasized, "The 21st National Assembly is the first assembly formed after the Candlelight Citizen Revolution. Our citizens have given a solemn mandate to create a country worthy of the name, a Republic of Korea that no one can shake, through reform, and the 21st National Assembly must respond to this mandate."

He continued, "The hope of the newly elected first-term members is to create a working National Assembly, a National Assembly trusted by the people, and a dignified National Assembly. I am willing to take on that role. I will immediately form a Working National Assembly Reform Task Force."

Kim, confirmed as the candidate for Deputy Speaker, is a pharmacist who graduated from Ewha Womans University’s Department of Pharmacy. Beginning with participation in student movements during Park Chung-hee’s Yushin dictatorship, she has been active in democratization, women's rights, and environmental movements for over 30 years. She was elected as a proportional representative of the United Democratic Party in the 18th general election and successfully re-elected in the 19th by running in Bucheon Sosa, Gyeonggi Province. She has since been consecutively elected in the 20th and 21st general elections in the same district, reaching her fourth term. Once the Speaker election process concludes in the 21st National Assembly, Kim will become the first female Deputy Speaker in constitutional history.

Kim stated, "As the first woman to participate in the Speaker’s panel, I will show a new image of the leadership. I will demonstrate a soft yet bold, principled yet innovative female leadership."

Meanwhile, it is reported that Representative Jeong Jin-seok of the United Future Party, a five-term member, is highly likely to be endorsed as the opposition party’s Deputy Speaker.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.