Ruling and Opposition Parties Agree to Vote on Supreme Court Chief Justice Nominee Appointment Consent on the 6th of Next Month

The ruling and opposition parties have agreed to hold a plenary session of the National Assembly on the 6th of next month to vote on the appointment consent bill for nominee Lee Gyun-yong as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. It is also expected that the processing of bills in the plenary session, which had been suspended after the approval of the arrest consent bill for Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, will proceed significantly.

Speaker Kim Jin-pyo, Floor Leader Yoon Jae-ok of the People Power Party, and Floor Leader Hong Ik-pyo of the Democratic Party agreed on this during a meeting chaired by the Speaker on the same day. This meeting was the first since Floor Leader Hong was elected.

Right after the meeting, Floor Leader Yoon told reporters, "We shared the recognition that the processing of the appointment consent bill for the Chief Justice should no longer be delayed," adding, "We decided to hold a plenary session on the 6th of next month to process nominee Lee's appointment consent bill."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

As the voting procedure will proceed, it remains to be seen whether nominee Lee's appointment consent bill will actually pass the National Assembly. Regarding this, Floor Leader Hong said, "The ruling and opposition parties shared the view that the judicial vacancy should no longer continue," and added, "Since the National Assembly has already conducted the confirmation hearing, we agreed on the necessity to decide the approval or rejection through the legal procedures following the hearing results by voting in the National Assembly. After consulting to find the earliest possible date, we reached a tentative agreement for the 6th of next month."

At the plenary session, the election of the chairman of the Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee, which will hold a by-election due to Floor Leader Hong's election, and the processing of bills that were not handled in the previous plenary session are scheduled. Accordingly, at the plenary session on the 6th of next month, it is expected that voting procedures will also be carried out on about 90 agenda items that were automatically adjourned after the recess caused by the approval of the arrest consent bill.

The ruling and opposition parties also agreed to continue discussions on additional pending issues.

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