Kim Minseok Inaugurated as First Prime Minister of the Lee Jaemyung Administration
Kim Minseok: "Overcoming the Economic Crisis Caused by Tyranny Is My Top Priority"
President Lee Jaemyung approved the appointment of Prime Minister Kim Minseok on July 3. This comes 29 days after President Lee nominated Kim as the candidate for Prime Minister.
According to the presidential office, President Lee approved Kim's appointment at around 5:40 p.m. on this day. Earlier, the National Assembly held a plenary session and passed the motion to appoint Kim Minseok as Prime Minister. The People Power Party criticized the vote as "an outrage that mocks democracy" and did not participate in the vote.
On this day, with People Power Party lawmakers absent from the vote, the motion to appoint Kim was passed with 173 votes in favor, 3 against, and 3 invalid out of 179 lawmakers present. Only lawmakers from the Democratic Party, the Cho Kuk Innovation Party, and the Progressive Party, as well as other ruling coalition parties, participated in the anonymous vote.
With this, Kim Minseok becomes the first Prime Minister of the Lee Jaemyung administration and the 49th Prime Minister of South Korea. Immediately after the motion passed, Kim told reporters, "I will never forget my gratitude to the people who supported me," and added, "I will uphold the will of the people as if it were the sky, and incorporate the wisdom of lawmakers from both sides of the aisle into state affairs."
He continued, "Overcoming the economic crisis caused by the forces of tyranny is my top priority," and said, "As the President's chief aide, I will be a Prime Minister who thinks ahead and takes initiative from early in the morning. I am grateful to be opening an era of a great people, a great government, and a great President."
In protest of the plenary vote in the National Assembly, the People Power Party held a rally in front of the main chamber of the National Assembly during the vote on Kim's appointment. Song Eonseok, interim leader and floor leader of the People Power Party, criticized, "Forcing through Kim's appointment is by no means the end," and added, "It is a clear declaration marking the beginning of catastrophe for the Lee Jaemyung administration."
Song said, "We have once again witnessed the dictatorial outrage of the Lee Jaemyung administration and the Democratic Party," and added, "Just a month ago, President Lee Jaemyung said he would restore communication and cooperation, but that was a blatant lie."
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