Parliamentary confirmation hearings for cabinet nominees under President Lee Jae-myung's second round of reshuffling will begin on the 15th. Hearings start with Lee Hyoung-il, nominee for deputy prime minister and minister of economy and finance, and Lee So-young, nominee for minister of SMEs and startups, followed on the 16th by Kang Shin-chul, nominee for defense minister, and Hong Ji-sun, nominee for minister of land, infrastructure and transport.
Jeon Eun-soo, floor spokesperson for the Democratic Party of Korea, told reporters after a policy coordination meeting at the National Assembly on the 3rd that the hearing for Lee Hyoung-il will be held on Tuesday the 15th before the Finance and Economic Planning Committee, with the hearing for Lee So-young to take place the same day before the Trade, Industry, Energy and SMEs Committee. Hearings on the 16th, a Wednesday, will cover Kang Shin-chul before the National Defense Committee and Hong Ji-sun before the Land Committee, the spokesperson said.
The hearing date for Kim Seung-won, nominee for justice minister, has yet to be set. Jeon said the party would announce the date once final talks that morning concluded. Schedules for Yong Hye-in, nominee for minister of gender equality and family, Kim Sung-soo, nominee for Supreme Court justice, and Choi Gil-soo, nominee for chairman of the Board of Audit and Inspection, remain undetermined because negotiations between the parties are still under way or confirmation requests have not been submitted.
On the special committee for Kim Sung-soo's confirmation hearing, Rep. Joo Cheol-hyun will serve as the Democratic Party's secretary, joined by Reps. Kim Young-ho, Kim Han-kyu, Kwak Sang-eon, Park Ji-hye, Bu Seung-chan and Chae Hyun-il.
The National Assembly's plenary session that day is expected to pass around 17 bills, including a special act on the Itaewon crowd crush. The final list of bills will be confirmed that morning after talks between the parties. A measure agreed by both parties to collect relief donations for Nepal is also set to be taken up at the plenary session.
Housing supply bills, however, are not expected to reach the floor. Those include amendments to the Act on the Improvement of Urban Areas and Residential Environments, the Special Act on the Promotion of Urban Renewal, and the special act on Yongsan Park.
"Negotiations between the land minister and the Seoul mayor are still under way, so we will watch how those talks go, and for now it looks like the bills will not go up today," Jeon said. "On housing supply, we believe what is needed is substantive supply measures rather than passage of the bills themselves, so we are giving priority to negotiations on that."
