▲ Rival parties clashed on the 14th over the adoption of witnesses and persons requested for reference testimony at the confirmation hearing for Supreme Court justice nominee Kim Sung-soo. Kim faces allegations that he lived in a Gangnam apartment owned by his brother-in-law under a jeonse (a Korean lease system requiring a large lump-sum deposit instead of monthly rent) set below market rates, yet not a single witness requested by the opposition was approved. The ruling party also rejected all of the roughly 90 witnesses and persons requested for reference testimony sought by the opposition for five ministerial nominees in the second-term Cabinet of the Lee Jae-myung administration, including Justice Minister nominee Kim Seung-won. There is reason to worry that hollow hearings without witnesses or persons giving reference testimony are hardening into a "new normal."
▲ Oh Jun-ho, leader of the Basic Income Party, proposed on the 14th that the Democratic Party of Korea revise the National Assembly Act to bar lawmakers — whether elected in districts or through proportional representation — from concurrently serving as Cabinet ministers. The proposal came a day after Rep. Yong Hye-in of his own party withdrew from consideration as minister of gender equality and family amid controversy over holding both posts. In parliamentary systems such as the United Kingdom, lawmakers are generally allowed to serve as ministers, while presidential systems such as the United States and France typically prohibit it. Setting aside the controversy surrounding Rep. Yong, the practice of district lawmakers holding dual posts also appears to be a target for reform if the separation of powers, the premise of a presidential system, is to be upheld.
