Ruling and Opposition Parties Push for Closed-Door Hearing on 'Morality Verification'

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Cheol-eung] It is reported that the ruling and opposition parties are pushing for a plan to conduct morality verification during personnel hearings in a closed session.

On the 16th, Kim Tae-nyeon, the floor leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, and Joo Ho-young, the floor leader of the People Power Party, agreed at a meeting chaired by National Assembly Speaker Park Byeong-seok to form a "Personnel Hearing System Improvement Task Force" (TF) to prepare a revision proposal.

This TF was proposed by Speaker Park, aiming to prevent side effects caused by so-called "digging into personal backgrounds" of candidates and their families every time a personnel hearing is held. However, the timing of its application is undecided.

Last month, President Moon Jae-in expressed the opinion that "It is really not easy to recruit good talent. There is an actual phenomenon of avoiding hearings," and emphasized the need to revise the system so that morality verification during personnel hearings is not excessively conducted.

The Justice Party pointed out that while improvement of the personnel hearing system is necessary, it should be premised on the submission of pre-verification materials from the Blue House to the National Assembly, cooperation from related agencies such as the National Police Agency and the National Tax Service, extension of the hearing period, and strengthening the candidate's obligation to submit materials to the National Assembly.