The ruling Saenuri Party elected Rep. Yoo Seong-min to head the 19th National Assembly’s National Defense Committee on Friday.

The Saenuri Party’s election of Yoo wrapped up the composition of the parliament’s 18 standing committees, among which 10 are chaired by the Saenuri Party and eight by the main opposition Democratic United Party.

The chairman seat for the Defense Committee was put to a vote by the Saenuri members as both Yoo and former military man Rep. Hwang Jin-ha vouched for the post. All the other seats were automatically filled by having single candidates. Yoo won with 92 votes against Hwang’s 34.

Yoo is an economist-turned-politician who served on the National Policy Committee and Finance Economy (now named Strategy and Finance) in the 17th parliament. He joined the Defense Committee in the 18th assembly.

The standing committee chairs will be officially designated to their posts at the Assembly’s plenary session on Monday.

(jhl@heraldcorp.com)