National Assembly (South Korea) Explained

National Assembly of the Republic of Korea
Transcription Name:	Daehanminguk Gukhoe
Legislature:	22nd National Assembly
Coa Pic:	Emblem of the National Assembly of Korea.svg
Logo Pic:	Communication logo of the National Assembly of Korea.svg
House Type:	Unicameral
Leader1 Type:	Speaker
Leader1:	Woo Won-shik
Party1:	Independent
Leader2 Type:	Deputy Speaker
Leader2:	Lee Hak-young
Party2:	Democratic
Leader3 Type:	Deputy Speaker
Leader3:	Joo Ho-young
Party3:	People power
Members:	300
Structure1:	22nd South Korea National Assembly.svg
Structure1 Res:	250px
Political Groups1:	Government (108) People Power (108) Opposition (192) Democratic (170) Rebuilding Korea (12) New Reform (3) Progressive (3) New Future (1) Basic Income (1) Social Democratic (1) Speaker (1)
Voting System1:	Additional-member system
Last Election1:	10 April 2024
Next Election1:	April 2028
Session Room:	Main conference room of South korean national assembly building.JPG
Session Res:	270px
Term Length:	4 years
Salary:	US$128,610
Meeting Place:	Main Conference Room National Assembly Building, Seoul 37.532°N 126.9141°W

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 current National Assembly held its first meeting, and also began its current four year term, on 30 May 2024.^{[2] [3]} The next Speaker was elected 5 June 2024.^{[4] [5]} 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.

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.

Building

See main article: Korea National Assembly Proceeding Hall. The main building in Yeouido, Seoul, is a stone structure with seven stories above ground and one story below ground. The building has 24 columns, which means the legislature's promise to listen to people 24/7 throughout the year.^[6]

Structure and appointment

Speaker

See main article: Speaker of the National Assembly of South Korea. The constitution stipulates that the assembly is presided over by a Speaker and two Deputy Speakers,^[7] 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.^[8] The Speaker is independent of party affiliation, and the Speaker and Deputy Speakers may not simultaneously be government ministers.

Negotiation groups

Parties that hold at least 20 seats in the assembly form floor negotiation groups (Korean: 교섭단체, Hanja: 交涉團體, RR:), 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.^[9]

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.^[10]

Legislative process

See also: Legislative elections in South Korea.

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.^[11]

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.^[12]

• House Steering Committee
• Legislation and Judiciary Committee
• National Policy Committee
• Strategy and Finance Committee
• Education Committee
• Science, ICT, Broadcasting and Communications Committee
• Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee
• National Defense Committee
• Public Administration and Security Committee
• Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee
• Agriculture, Food, Rural Affairs, Oceans and Fisheries Committee
• Trade, Industry, Energy, SMEs and Startups Committee
• Health and Welfare Committee
• Environment and Labor Committee
• Land Infrastructure and Transport Committee
• Intelligence Committee
• Gender Equality and Family Committee

Election

See also: Legislative elections in South Korea.

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.^[13]

Per Article 189 of Public Official Election Act,^{[14] [15]} 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:

$$n\_\backslash text\; =\; \backslash left\backslash lfloor\; \backslash frac\backslash right\backslash rfloor$$

where

• = total number of seats in the National Assembly.
• = number of seats obtained by ineligible parties and independents.
• = number of constituency seats obtained by the party.
• = total number of seats allocated for additional member system.

If the integer is less than 1, then 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.

$$n\_\backslash text\; =\; \backslash left(n\_\backslash text-\backslash sum\; n\_\backslash text\backslash right)\; \backslash times\; \backslash text$$

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.^[16]

Legislative violence

From 2004 to 2009, the assembly gained notoriety as a frequent site for legislative violence.^[17] The Assembly first came to the world's attention during a violent dispute on impeachment proceedings for then President Roh Moo-hyun,^{[18] [19]} 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.^{[20] [21] [22]}

Historical composition

- - -
Election	Total seats	Composition
1st (1948)	200	29 85 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 6 12 55
2nd (1950)	210	2 24 126 1 1 1 1 3 3 10 14 24
3rd (1954)	203	15 67 1 3 3 114
4th (1958)	233	79 26 1 127
5th (1960)	233	4 1 175 49 1 1 2
6th (1963)	175	40 14 2 9 110
7th (1967)	175	1 45 129
8th (1971)	204	1 89 1 113
9th (1973)	219	2 52 19 146
10th (1978)	231	3 61 22 145
11th (1981)	276	2 81 2 11 1 1 2 25 151
12th (1985)	276	1 67 35 1 4 20 148
13th (1988)	299	1 70 59 9 35 125
14th (1992)	299	97 21 1 31 149
15th (1996)	299	79 15 16 50 139
16th (2000)	273	115 17 5 1 2 133
17th (2004)	299	10 152 9 2 1 4 121
18th (2008)	299	5 81 3 25 18 153 14
19th (2012)	300	13 127 3 5 152
20th (2016)	300	6 123 11 38 122
21st (2020)	300	6 3 180 5 3 103
22nd (2024)	300	1 12 175 1 3 108

History

First Republic

See also: First Republic of Korea. Elections for the assembly were held under UN supervision^[23] on 10 May 1948. The First Republic of Korea was established on 17 July 1948^[24] 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.

National Assembly	Majority Party		Majority Leader	Seats	Speaker	Seats	Minority Leaders	Minority Parties
1st		NARRKI→NA		55		29		KDP→DNP
						116		others
2nd		DNP		24		24		KNP
						14		NA
						148		others
3rd		LP		114		15		DNP→DP (55)
						3		NA
						3		KNP
						68		others
4th		LP		126		79		DP (55)
						28		others

Second Republic

See also: Second Republic of Korea.

Third Republic

See also: Third Republic of Korea.

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

National Assembly	Majority Party		Majority Leader	Seats	Speaker	Seats	Minority Leaders	Minority Parties
6th		DRP		110		41		CRP→DRP→NDP
						13		DP (55)→DRP→NDP
7th		DRP		129		45		NDP
8th		DRP		113		89		NDP

Fourth Republic

See also: Fourth Republic of Korea.

National Assembly	Majority Party		Majority Leader	Seats	Speaker	Seats	Minority Leaders	Minority Parties
9th		DRP+Presidential appointees		146		52		NDP
10th		DRP+Presidential appointees ↓ KNP		145		61		NDP

Fifth Republic

See also: Fifth Republic of Korea.

National Assembly	Majority Party		Majority Leader	Seats	Speaker	Seats	Minority Leaders	Minority Parties
11th		DJP		151		81		DKP
						25		KNP
12th		DJP		148		67		NKDP
						35		DKP
						20		KNP

Sixth Republic

Term (Election)	Speaker
13th (1988)		125	70	-	36	59	9
14th (1992)		149	97	-	-	31	21
15th (1996)		139	79	-	65	-	16
16th (2000)		133	115	-	20	-	5
17th (2004)		121	152	10	4	9	3
18th (2008)		153	81	5	32	3	25
19th (2012)	Kang Chang-hee Chung Ui-hwa	152	127	13	5	-	3
20th (2016)	Chung Sye-kyun Moon Hee-sang	122	123	6	-	38	11
21st (2020)		103	180	6	3	3	5
22nd (2024)		108	171	3	3	15	0

Members

See main article: List of members of the National Assembly (South Korea).

• List of members of the South Korean Constituent Assembly
• List of members of the National Assembly (South Korea), 1950–1954
• List of members of the National Assembly (South Korea), 1954–1958
• List of members of the National Assembly (South Korea), 1981–1985
• List of members of the National Assembly (South Korea), 1985–1988
• List of members of the National Assembly (South Korea), 1988–1992
• List of members of the National Assembly (South Korea), 1992–1996
• List of members of the National Assembly (South Korea), 1996–2000
• List of members of the National Assembly (South Korea), 2000–2004
• List of members of the National Assembly (South Korea), 2004–2008
• List of members of the National Assembly (South Korea), 2008–2012
• List of members of the National Assembly (South Korea), 2012–2016
• List of members of the National Assembly (South Korea), 2016–2020
• List of members of the National Assembly (South Korea), 2020–2024
• List of members of the National Assembly (South Korea), 2024–2028

Television broadcast

See main article: National Assembly TV.

See also

• List of political parties in South Korea
• Politics of South Korea
• National Assembly TV
• Supreme People's Assembly, the North Korean legislature
• 2019 South Korean Capitol attack

Notes

1. Article 21, Clause 1 of the Election Law
2. News: 1st meeting of 22nd parliament's DP lawmakers. Yonhap. 30 May 2024. 2 June 2024.
3. News: National Assembly begins new 4-year term. Yi. Wonju. Yonhap. 30 May 2024. 4 June 2024.
4. News: DP's Woo Won-shik Elected as Speaker of 22nd National Assembly amid PPP Boycott . 5 June 2024. 5 June 2024 .
5. News: 22nd Assembly begins new 4-year term. Lee. Jung-joo. The Korea Herald. 30 May 2024. 2 June 2024.
6. Web site: HISTORY & HERITAGE . The National Assembly of the Republic of Korea.
7. Article 48 of the Constitution of the Republic of Korea.
8. Book: Park, Young-Do . Einführung in das koreanische Recht . German . Introduction to Korean Law . Springer . 2010 . 25 . Kapitel 2: Verfassungsrecht . 9783642116032.
9. Youngmi Kim (2011). The Politics of Coalition in South Korea. Taylor & Francis, p. 65.
10. Y. Kim, pp. 68 - 9.
11. Park 2010, p. 27.
12. Web site: Standing Committees and Special Committees of the National Assembly . National Assembly. Korean.
13. Web site: 김 . 광태 . 23 December 2019 . (2nd LD) Opposition party launches filibuster against electoral reform bill . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20200103055524/https://en.yna.co.kr/view/AEN20191223004552315 . 3 January 2020 . 3 January 2020 . Yonhap News Agency.
14. Web site: 국가법령정보센터 . 2023-01-26 . www.law.go.kr.
15. Web site: 국가법령정보센터 . 2023-01-26 . www.law.go.kr.
16. News: 18-year-olds Hit the Polls for First Time in S. Korea . 19 April 2020 . Korea Bizwire . 15 April 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200419050202/http://koreabizwire.com/18-year-olds-hit-the-polls-for-first-time-in-s-korea/157765 . 19 April 2020 . live .
17. Web site: The World's Most Unruly Parliaments. 16 September 2009 .
18. News: South Korean president impeached. 12 March 2004. news.bbc.co.uk.
19. News: In pictures: Impeachment battle. 12 March 2004. news.bbc.co.uk.
20. Web site: South Korea lawmakers: Reaching across the aisle with a sledgehammer. By John M.. Glionna. Los Angeles Times. 28 January 2009.
21. Web site: South Korean politicians use fire extinguishers against opposition. https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220112/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/southkorea/3832972/South-Korean-politicians-use-fire-extinguishers-against-opposition.html . 12 January 2022 . subscription . live. 18 December 2008. www.telegraph.co.uk.
22. Web site: Hall of Violence. 2 March 2009.
23. http://korea50.army.mil/history/factsheets/overview.shtml Setting the Stage
24. http://www.oefre.unibe.ch/law/icl/ks__indx.html ICL – South Korea Index

References

• U.S. Library of Congress Country Studies