Woo Won-sik "Serious Regret Over Choi Sang-mok's Judgment... Constitutional Court 3 Candidates Result of Bipartisan Agreement"

Rebuttal to Choi Sang-mok's Decision Through Statement
"Agreed Upon Through Speaker's Mediation"

Speaker of the National Assembly Woo Won-sik expressed "serious regret over Acting President and Deputy Prime Minister for Economy and Minister of Strategy and Finance Choi Sang-mok's decision to appoint two of the three Constitutional Court justices elected by the National Assembly."

On the 31st, Speaker Woo stated in a press release, "The appointment of Constitutional Court justices is not a matter for compromise."

Earlier that day, Acting President Choi appointed two of the three candidates for Constitutional Court justice elected by the National Assembly on the 26th. He announced that candidate Ma Eun-hyuk would be appointed after bipartisan agreement.

Yonhap News

In response, Speaker Woo explained, "The three candidates for Constitutional Court justice elected by the National Assembly were indeed agreed upon by both ruling and opposition parties," adding, "Through the Speaker's mediation, the floor leaders of both parties agreed on the distribution of the recommended justices: one from the People Power Party and two from the Democratic Party of Korea, and therefore subsequent procedures such as candidate recommendation proceeded accordingly."

He continued, "During the personnel hearing and plenary session election process, it was the ruling party that changed its position, not that there was no agreement," and refuted, "The claim that there was no bipartisan agreement distorts the National Assembly's deliberation process without basis in fact."

He further emphasized, "I strongly regret the delay in the normal operation of the nine-member Constitutional Court and the infringement on the National Assembly's right to elect Constitutional Court justices," and stated, "The Speaker of the National Assembly will take necessary measures."