Chung wins Assembly vote to be new P.M.

The National Assembly approved the nomination of Chung Un-chan as prime minister during a plenary session yesterday.

The appointment of Chung, former president of Seoul National University, was endorsed as 164 of 177 participating legislators voted in favor of the confirmation, while nine threw in objections, with the remaining four turning out to be blank or invalid.

The ruling Grand National Party alone has 167 seats in the current 290-member National Assembly. Prior to putting Chung`s nomination to a floor vote, a total of six legislators from different political parties - mostly members of the special committee created for Chung`s confirmation hearing - took turns to express their opinions on the confirmation.



"What is most problematic is his apathy towards ethics," said Rep. Kang Woon-tae from the main opposition Democratic Party, citing his misstated tax reports, his son`s dual nationality issue and his failure to serve in the Korean military.

Opposition party lawmakers also held signs that opposed the prime minister nominee`s confirmation while special hearing committee chair Chung Eui-hwa of the GNP was reporting the details of the two-day hearing session.

When National Assembly Speaker Kim Hyong-o ignored the demands of legislators from the DP and the LFP, some walked out of the chamber while some others blocked GNP lawmakers from casting their ballots.

"You should not be preventing others from practicing their rights," Kim said. Ahead of convening the plenary session, GNP floor leader Ahn Sang-soo said he did not find a critical deficiency that would not allow Chung to take seat as prime minister.

"The GNP will also be greatly impacted if the Assembly fails to confirm the nomination of Chung, which is why we`re going on a face-to-face fight with the opposition parties," he said.

A total of 38 DP lawmakers headed by Rep. Yang Seung-jo, on the other hand, filed a petition against Chung to the prosecution yesterday.

"I urge Chung once more to voluntarily resign from the seat to show that you at least have some conscience as a scholar," said DP floor leader Lee Kang-rae.

(sharon@heraldm.com)



By Cho Ji-hyun