Democrats Nominate Standing Committee Chairs... Kim Gyoheung for Public Administration, Kim Cheolmin for Education, Shin Donggeun for Welfare

The Democratic Party finalized the appointments of three out of six standing committee chairpersons allocated to their party on the 13th.

According to the Democratic Party on the day, Representative Kim Gyo-heung was virtually appointed as the new Chairperson of the Public Administration and Security Committee, Representative Kim Cheol-min as the Chairperson of the Education Committee, and Representative Shin Dong-geun as the Chairperson of the Health and Welfare Committee. The six standing committees with Democratic Party chairperson replacements are Public Administration and Security, Education, Health and Welfare, Industry, Trade, Small and Medium Enterprises and Startups, Environment and Labor, and the Special Committee on Budget and Accounts.

All three newly appointed representatives are serving their second term. Representative Kim Gyo-heung is currently the secretary of the Public Administration and Security Committee, Representative Kim Cheol-min has experience in the Education Committee, and Representative Shin is a dentist by profession who has been active in the Welfare Committee.

Park Kwang-on, floor leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, is speaking at the floor strategy meeting held at the National Assembly on the 13th. Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

The Democratic Party plans to finalize the appointments for the remaining Industry, Environment and Labor, and Budget and Accounts Committee chairpersons within the day, report to the party caucus on the 14th, and have them elected as chairpersons in the plenary session on the same day.

Previously, the Democratic Party attempted to elect their standing committee chairpersons on the 30th of last month, but faced criticism of 'dividing up vested interests' over appointing former floor leaders, ministers, or members of the leadership as chairpersons, leading to a postponement of the election just before the plenary vote.

Subsequently, the Democratic Party gathered internal opinions and established new appointment criteria. Party positions within the highest decision-making bodies such as party leader, floor leader, supreme council member, secretary-general, and policy committee chair cannot be held concurrently, and candidates who have served as ministers or higher-level political officials or former floor leaders are excluded. Accordingly, the pool of chairperson candidates was lowered from those with three or more terms to those at the second-term level.

The floor leadership is reported to have made appointments considering the new criteria along with seniority, age, personal preference, regional characteristics, and expertise.

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