United Future Party Appoints 'In His 40s' Lawyer Kim Gwan-ha as Ethics Committee Chairperson

Kim Jong-in, the Emergency Committee Chairman of the United Future Party, is seated and delivering opening remarks at the Emergency Committee meeting held at the National Assembly on the 9th. Photo by Yoon Dong-ju doso7@

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hye-min] The United Future Party under the 'Kim Jong-in Emergency Response Committee system' has appointed lawyer Kim Gwan-ha, in his 40s, as the new Chairperson of the Central Ethics Committee.

The party's emergency response committee resolved this decision on the morning of the 9th. The Ethics Committee determines whether to discipline party-affiliated lawmakers and the severity of such measures. The newly appointed Chairperson Kim is a former lawyer at Kim & Chang law firm and is currently serving as a public interest commissioner responsible for adjudication at the Seoul Regional Labor Relations Commission. Born in 1974, he is 46 years old this year, which attracted attention.

Regarding this, Chairperson Kim explained, "This time, the Ethics Committee Chairperson is a younger person compared to the past," adding, "While it is important for the Chairperson to have extensive legal knowledge, we chose this person because we wanted someone with political sensibility."

Professor Lee Yang-hee of Sungkyunkwan University's Department of Child and Adolescent Studies was appointed as the Chairperson of the Party Affairs Audit Committee, which manages organizational matters such as evaluations of local party branches. She has served as Chairperson of the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child and as a Special Rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar. Chairperson Kim said, "She was a member of the emergency response committee during the Park Geun-hye emergency response system," adding, "She has extensive international experience and relatively fresh sensibilities. We judged her to be the right person in terms of how the United Future Party should break away from the past and move forward."

Along with this, the United Future Party appointed former lawmaker Kim Seong-tae as Chairperson of the Central Committee, lawmaker Ji Seong-ho as Chairperson of the North Korean Human Rights and Defector Abduction Committee, lawmaker Jeong Jeom-sik as Chairperson of the Legal Advisory Committee, lawmaker Kim Seok-gi as Chairperson of the Overseas Korean Committee, former lawmaker Yoo Min-bong as Director of the Central Training Institute, and Kim Sook-hyang, a standing national committee member of the Central Women's Committee, as Chairperson of the Central Women's Committee, all of which were deliberated and resolved.