Song Seok-jun, a People Power Party lawmaker elected chair of the Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee, greets the chamber at the second plenary session of the July extraordinary National Assembly session on Thursday. [Yonhap]
Song Seok-jun, a People Power Party lawmaker elected chair of the Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee, greets the chamber at the second plenary session of the July extraordinary National Assembly session on Thursday. [Yonhap]

The second-half committee leadership lineup of the 22nd National Assembly was in effect finalized Thursday, with the People Power Party electing chairs for its six standing committees 54 days after the session opened.

The Assembly convened a plenary session that day to elect the six People Power Party standing committee chairs.

Kim Hee-jeong, a three-term lawmaker, was elected chair of the Education Committee; Yoo Eui-dong, a four-term lawmaker, took the Land and Transportation Committee; and Lee Man-hee, a three-term lawmaker, was elected chair of the Health and Welfare Committee.

Kim Seong-won will chair the Industry, Trade, Resources, SMEs and Startups Committee; Song Seok-jun will lead the Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee; and Lee Yang-su will head the Intelligence Committee — all three-term lawmakers.

Under an agreement between the ruling and opposition parties, Lee Yang-su will serve as Intelligence Committee chair for one year, then take over as chair of the Agriculture, Food, Rural Affairs, Oceans and Fisheries Committee for the following year.

The gender equality and family committee chair — one of the seats allocated to the People Power Party — was not filled Thursday.

The previously confirmed nominee, lawmaker Lim Yi-ja, had stepped down from the candidacy.

Lawmaker Kim Jeong-jae, who competed against Yoo in the primary election for the land and transportation committee chair, has been tapped to fill the vacancy.

The People Power Party plans to formally endorse Kim as the new nominee at a future caucus meeting before electing her chair at the next plenary session.

With Thursday's elections, the Assembly in effect concluded its committee leadership negotiations.

Earlier, the Democratic Party of Korea had unilaterally elected chairs for its 11 standing committees on June 30.

The Democratic Party moved first because negotiations had stalled, with both sides refusing to yield the chairmanship of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee.

The People Power Party responded by boycotting Assembly proceedings, while the Democratic Party ran its 11 committees with only half their membership and urged the People Power Party to return.

After a prolonged standoff, the People Power Party agreed Tuesday to a special prosecutor act on the National Election Commission and accepted the remaining seven standing committee chair posts.


mp1256@heraldcorp.com