Rep. Chung Ui-hwa Elected as Speaker

New Speaker Rep. Chung Ui-hwa of the second half of the 19th National Assembly is seen in the middle of his media conference on June 2 at the National Assembly in Yeouido, Seoul. The new speaker, the fifth-term legislator, is a member of the ruling Saenuri Party.

By Oh Chung-sook

The speaker and vice speakers for the second half of the 19th National Assembly were elected in the last plenary session of the first half of its term, held on May 29, 2014. The National Assembly Secretariat announced that Rep. Chung Ui-hwa (SP) was elected as the speaker, and Reps. Jeong Kab-yoon (SP) and Lee Seok-hyun (NPAD) were selected as the vice speakers.

(from left) Rep. Jeong Kab-yoon of the Sanuri Party and

Rep. Lee Seok-hyun of the New Politics Alliance for Democracy, elected as vice speakers.

In a secret ballot, Speaker Chung earned 207 votes out of 231 members attending, and Vice Speakers Jeong and Lee gained 204 out of 218, and 206 out of 212, respectively. The Secretariat said that this is the first time that a second leadership has been decided before the end of the first half of the term since 1994.

Following the election, the members passed a motion to approve a plan for a parliamentary investigation into the Sewol ferry sinking accident, and one to adopt a result report of the 2013 inspection of state administration. A Busan native, Rep. Chung entered the National Assembly in 1996 representing his hometown’s districts of Jung-gu and Dong-gu, and has served five consecutive terms.

In the meantime, former legislator Kim Seon-dong has been appointed as the chief of the Speaker’s Secretaries Office(vice minister-level) on May 30. He served in the 18th National Assembly as a legislator and is the chief of the Mapo District Saenuri Party Committee and at the same time professor for the Media Cinema Dep’t of Hansae University. Speaker Chung Ui-wha named Lee Soo-won the Speaker’s Chief Secretary for the Political Affairs. Lee was the senior deputy Spokesman for the ruling Saenuri Party and also served in the Prime Minister’s Office as the secretary for political affairs management.