National Assembly (South Korea)

Last updated

National Assembly of the
Republic of Korea

대한민국 국회
大韓民國國會

Daehanminguk Gukhoe
22nd National Assembly
Emblem of the National Assembly of Korea.svg
Communication logo of the National Assembly of Korea.svg
Type
Type
Leadership
Kim Jin-pyo, Independent
since 4 July 2022
Deputy Speaker
Kim Young-joo, People Power
since 4 March 2024
Deputy Speaker
Chung Woo-taik, People Power
since 10 November 2022
Structure
Seats300
Composition of the 21st National Assembly of Korea.svg
Political groups
Government (116)
  •   People Power (101)
  •   People Future (13)
  •   Liberty Unification (1)
  •   Independent (1) [lower-alpha 1]

Opposition (181)

Vacant (3)

  •   Vacant (3)
Length of term
4 years
SalaryUS$128,610
Elections
Additional-member system
Last election
10 April 2024
Next election
2028
Meeting place
Main conference room of South korean national assembly building.JPG
Main Conference Room
National Assembly Building, Seoul
37°31′55.21″N126°54′50.66″E / 37.5320028°N 126.9140722°E / 37.5320028; 126.9140722
Website
www.assembly.go.kr OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg

The National Assembly of the Republic of Korea, often shortened to the National Assembly, is the unicameral national legislature of South Korea. [1] Elections to the National Assembly are held every four years. The latest legislative elections was held on 10 April 2024. The National Assembly has 300 seats, with 253 constituency seats and 47 proportional representation seats; 30 of the PR seats are assigned an additional member system, while 17 PR seats use the parallel voting method.

Contents

The unicameral assembly consists of at least 200 members according to the South Korean constitution. In 1990 the assembly had 299 seats, 224 of which were directly elected from single-member districts in the general elections of April 1988. Under applicable laws, the remaining seventy-five representatives were elected from party lists. By law, candidates for election to the assembly must be at least thirty years of age. As part of a political compromise in 1987, an earlier requirement that candidates have at least five years' continuous residency in the country was dropped to allow Kim Dae-jung, who had spent several years in exile in Japan and the United States during the 1980s, to return to political life. The National Assembly's term is four years. In a change from the more authoritarian Fourth Republic and Fifth Republic (1972–81 and 1981–87, respectively), under the Sixth Republic, the assembly cannot be dissolved by the president.

Structure and appointment

The National Assembly Building in Seoul National Assembly Building of the Republic of Korea.png
The National Assembly Building in Seoul

Speaker

The constitution stipulates that the assembly is presided over by a Speaker and two Deputy Speakers, [2] who are responsible for expediting the legislative process. The Speaker and Deputy Speakers are elected in a secret ballot by the members of the Assembly, and their term in office is restricted to two years. [3] The Speaker is independent of party affiliation, and the Speaker and Deputy Speakers may not simultaneously be government ministers. [3]

Negotiation groups

Parties that hold at least 20 seats in the assembly form floor negotiation groups (Korean : 교섭단체, Hanja: 交涉團體, RR: gyoseop danche), which are entitled to a variety of rights that are denied to smaller parties. These include a greater amount of state funding and participation in the leaders' summits that determine the assembly's legislative agenda. [4]

In order to meet the quorum, the United Liberal Democrats, who then held 17 seats, arranged to "rent" three legislators from the Millennium Democratic Party. The legislators returned to the MDP after the collapse of the ULD-MDP coalition in September 2001. [5]

Legislative process

This graph traces the recent origins of all six main political parties currently in the Republic of Korea. All of which have either split from or merged with other parties in the last four years. They have emerged from four main ideological camps, from Left to Right: Progressive (socialist), liberal, centrist, and conservative. Graph of South Korean Political Parties (2005-2018).png
This graph traces the recent origins of all six main political parties currently in the Republic of Korea. All of which have either split from or merged with other parties in the last four years. They have emerged from four main ideological camps, from Left to Right: Progressive (socialist), liberal, centrist, and conservative.

For a legislator to introduce a bill, they must submit the proposal to the Speaker, accompanied by the signatures of at least ten other assembly members. A committee must then review the bill to verify that it employs precise and orderly language. Following this, the Assembly may either approve or reject the bill. [6]

Committees

There are 17 standing committees which examine bills and petitions falling under their respective jurisdictions, and perform other duties as prescribed by relevant laws. [7]

Election

Allocation of seats within the electoral system. Red and green: parallel voting; 253 FPTP and 17 PR seats. Blue: additional member system for 30 seats Electoral System composition of South Korea's National Assembly.svg
Allocation of seats within the electoral system. Red and green: parallel voting; 253 FPTP and 17 PR seats. Blue: additional member system for 30 seats

The National Assembly has 300 seats, with 254 constituency seats under FPTP and 46 proportional representation seats. With electoral reform taken in 2019, the PR seats apportionment method was replaced by a variation of additional member system from the previous parallel voting system. However, 17 seats were temporarily assigned under parallel voting in the 2020 South Korean legislative election. [8]

Per Article 189 of Public Official Election Act, [9] [10] the PR seats are awarded to parties that have either obtained at least 3% of the total valid votes in the legislative election or at least five constituency seats. The number of seats allocated to each eligible party is decided by the formula:

where

If the integer is less than 1, then ninitial is set to 0 and the party does not get any seats. Then the sum of initially allocated seats is compared to the total seats for the additional member system and recalculated.

Final seats are assigned through the largest remainder method, and if the remainder is equal, the winner is determined by lottery among the relevant political parties.

The voting age was also lowered from 19 to 18 years old, expanding the electorate by over half a million voters. [11]

Legislative violence

From 2004 to 2009, the assembly gained notoriety as a frequent site for legislative violence. [12] The Assembly first came to the world's attention during a violent dispute on impeachment proceedings for then President Roh Moo-hyun, [13] [14] when open physical combat took place in the assembly. Since then, it has been interrupted by periodic conflagrations, piquing the world's curiosity once again in 2009 when members battled each other with sledgehammers and fire extinguishers. The National Assembly since then has taken preventive measures to prevent any more legislative violence. [15] [16] [17]

Historical composition

  Progressive -   Liberal -   Independent politician -   Conservative

ElectionTotal
seats
Composition
1st
(1948)
200
298511111111111261255
2nd
(1950)
210
224126111133101424
3rd
(1954)
203
1567133114
4th
(1958)
233
79261127
5th
(1960)
233
4117549112
6th
(1963)
175
401429110
7th
(1967)
175
145129
8th
(1971)
204
1891113
9th
(1973)
219
25219146
10th
(1978)
231
36122145
11th
(1981)
276
28121111225151
12th
(1985)
276
167351420148
13th
(1988)
299
17059935125
14th
(1992)
299
9721131149
15th
(1996)
299
79151650139
16th
(2000)
273
11517512133
17th
(2004)
299
101529214121
18th
(2008)
299
5813251815314
19th
(2012)
300
1312735152
20th
(2016)
300
61231138122
21st
(2020)
300
6318053103
22nd
(2024)
300
11217513108

History

First Republic

Elections for the assembly were held under UN supervision [18] on 10 May 1948. The First Republic of Korea was established on 17 July 1948 [19] when the constitution of the First Republic was established by the Assembly. The Assembly also had the job of electing the president and elected anti-communist Syngman Rhee as president on 10 May 1948.

Under the first constitution, the National Assembly was unicameral. Under the second and third constitutions, the National Assembly was to be bicameral and consist of the House of Representatives and the House of Councillors, but in practice, the legislature was unicameral because the House of Representatives was prevented from passing the law necessary to establish the House of Councillors.

  Conservative  Liberal  Progressive

  majority  plurality only  largest minority

National
Assembly
Majority
Party
Majority
Leader
SeatsSpeakerSeatsMinority
Leaders
Minority
Parties
1st
(1948)
  NARRKINA 551948 Rhee Syng-man (supported by NARRKI)
1948–1950 Shin Ik-hee (supported by NARRKI until 1949)
29 KDPDNP  
116others
2nd
(1950)
DNP 24 Shin Ik-hee (supported by DNP)24 KNP
14 NA
148others
3rd
(1954)
  LP 114 Yi Ki-bung (supported by LP)15 DNPDP (55)
3 NA
3 KNP
68others
4th
(1958)
LP 126 Yi Ki-bung (supported by LP)79 DP (55)
28others

Second Republic

House of RepresentativesMajority
Party
Majority
Leader
SeatsSpeakerSeatsMinority
Leaders
Minority
Parties
5th
(1960)
  DP (55) 175 Kwak Sang-hoon (supported by DP (55))58Others 
House of CouncillorsMajority
Party
Majority
Leader
SeatsPresidentSeatsMinority
Leaders
Minority
Parties
5th
(1960)
  DP (55) 31 Paek Nak-chun (supported by DP (55))27Others 

Third Republic

Since the reopening of the National Assembly in 1963 until today, it has been unicameral.

National
Assembly
Majority
Party
Majority
Leader
SeatsSpeakerSeatsMinority
Leaders
Minority
Parties
6th
(1963)
  DRP 110 Lee Hyu-sang (supported by DRP)41 CRPDRPNDP  
13 DP (55)DRPNDP
7th
(1967)
DRP 129 Lee Hyu-sang (supported by DRP)45 NDP
8th
(1971)
  DRP 113 Baek Du-jin (supported by DRP)89 NDP

Fourth Republic

National
Assembly
Majority
Party
Majority
Leader
SeatsSpeakerSeatsMinority
Leaders
Minority
Parties
9th
(1973)
  DRP+Presidential appointees146 Chung Il-kwon (supported by DRP)52 NDP  
10th
(1978)
DRP+Presidential appointees

KNP
1451978–1979 Chung Il-kwon (supported by DRP)
1979 Baek Du-jin (supported by DRP)
61 NDP

Fifth Republic

National
Assembly
Majority
Party
Majority
Leader
SeatsSpeakerSeatsMinority
Leaders
Minority
Parties
11th
(1981)
  DJP 1511981–1983 Chung Rae-hyung (supported by DJP)
1983–1985 Chae Mun-shik (supported by DJP)
81 DKP  
25 KNP
12th
(1985)
DJP 148 Lee Jae-hyung (supported by DJP)67 NKDP
35 DKP
20 KNP

Sixth Republic

  majority  plurality  largest minority

Term
(Election)
Composition
(at commencement)
Speaker Conservative
current: PPP
Liberal
current: DP
Progressive
current: JP
Miscellaneous
right
Miscellaneous
left
Independent
13th
(1988)
70:104:125




Kim Jae-sun (1988–90)
Park Jyun-kyu (1990–92)
12570-36599
14th
(1992)
97:52:149




Park Jyun-kyu (1992–93)
Hwang Nak-joo (1993)
Lee Man-sup (1993–94)
Park Jyun-kyu (1994–96)
14997--3121
15th
(1996)
79:81:139




Kim Soo-han (1996–98)
Park Jyun-kyu (1998–00)
13979-65-16
16th
(2000)
115:25:133




Lee Man-sup (2000–02)
Park Kwan-yong (2002–04)
133115-20-5
17th
(2004)
10:152:16:121



Kim Won-ki (2004–06)
Lim Chae-jung (2006–08)
12115210493
18th
(2008)
5:81:60:153



Kim Hyong-o (2008–10)
Park Hee-tae (2010–12)
Chung Eui-hwa (2012)
15381532325
19th
(2012)
13:127:8:152



Kang Chang-hee (2012–14)
Chung Ui-hwa (2014–16)
152127135-3
20th
(2016)
6:123:49:122



Chung Sye-kyun (2016–18)
Moon Hee-sang (2018–20)
1221236-3811
21st
(2020)
6:180:11:103



Park Byeong-seug (2020–22)
Kim Jin-pyo (2022–present)
1031806335

Members

See also

Notes

  1. Ha Young-je was a member of the PPP, but left the party due to being charged with violation of the Political Funding Act.
  2. Including a seat from New Progressive Alliance

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References

  1. Article 21, Clause 1 of the Election Law
  2. Article 48 of the Constitution of the Republic of Korea.
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  4. Youngmi Kim (2011). The Politics of Coalition in South Korea. Taylor & Francis, p. 65.
  5. Y. Kim, pp. 689.
  6. Park 2010, p. 27.
  7. "Standing Committees and Special Committees of the National Assembly". National Assembly (in Korean).
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  9. "국가법령정보센터". www.law.go.kr. Retrieved 26 January 2023.
  10. "국가법령정보센터". www.law.go.kr. Retrieved 26 January 2023.
  11. "18-year-olds Hit the Polls for First Time in S. Korea". Korea Bizwire. 15 April 2020. Archived from the original on 19 April 2020. Retrieved 19 April 2020.
  12. "The World's Most Unruly Parliaments". 16 September 2009.
  13. "South Korean president impeached". 12 March 2004 via news.bbc.co.uk.
  14. "In pictures: Impeachment battle". 12 March 2004 via news.bbc.co.uk.
  15. Glionna, By John M. (28 January 2009). "South Korea lawmakers: Reaching across the aisle with a sledgehammer". Los Angeles Times.
  16. "South Korean politicians use fire extinguishers against opposition" . 18 December 2008. Archived from the original on 12 January 2022 via www.telegraph.co.uk.
  17. "Hall of Violence". 2 March 2009.
  18. Setting the Stage Archived 16 July 2007 at the Wayback Machine
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