Opposition to hold confirmation hearings for 3 Constitutional Court justices on Yoon impeachment on 23rd and 24th... aiming for plenary session approval on 30th

Unprecedented: Three Constitutional Court Justices for National Assembly Quota Hold Hearings in Two Days

The confirmation hearings for the vacant Constitutional Court justices are expected to take place on the 23rd and 24th. The National Assembly plans to complete the appointment process within this year.

Kim Han-gyu, the Democratic Party of Korea's secretary for the special committee on the confirmation hearings for Constitutional Court justices, explained the schedule after a party meeting on the 16th. Kim said, "There are three vacant seats for Constitutional Court justices allocated to the National Assembly. The request for confirmation hearings was submitted to the National Assembly on the 9th, so the hearings must be held by the 24th. Although we negotiated with the ruling party's secretary, no agreement has been reached yet. At the working level, we discussed holding hearings for all three candidates together over two days, the 23rd and 24th."

Currently, three seats on the Constitutional Court are vacant. The appointment of these justices is urgent due to the impeachment trial of President Yoon Seok-yeol, who was impeached on charges including rebellion.

Park Chan-dae, floor leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, is speaking at the Democratic Party of Korea members' meeting held at the National Assembly on the 16th. Photo by Kim Hyun-min

Typically, confirmation hearings are conducted by dedicating at least one full day per candidate, but considering the special circumstances of this case, it was decided to divide the time over two days for three candidates. The schedule has not been finalized due to factors such as the resignation of former People Power Party leader Han Dong-hoon and the subsequent lack of a newly formed leadership team.

Kim said, "We will hold a full committee meeting of the special committee tomorrow or the day after to adopt the hearing plan, appoint the chairperson and secretaries, and request materials. We asked for more time to discuss due to the change in the ruling party's leadership, but both ruling and opposition parties agreed to meet the deadline of the 24th," he explained.

Earlier, the Democratic Party announced plans to complete the vote on the selection of Constitutional Court justices by the 30th. Yoon Jong-gun, the Democratic Party's floor spokesperson, said, "The Democratic Party proposed to the People Power Party to conduct the confirmation hearings swiftly with the goal of processing the selection of Constitutional Court justices at the plenary session on the 30th."