National Assembly (South Korea)

National Assembly of the Republic of Korea 대한민국 국회 大韓民國國會 Daehan-min-guk Gukhoe
19th National Assembly
Type
Type	Unicameral
Leadership
Speaker	Chung Ui-hwa, Independent Since 30 May 2014
Vice Speaker	Jung Gab-yun, Saenuri Since 30 May 2014
Vice Speaker	Lee Seok-hyeon, NPAD Since 30 May 2014
Structure
Seats	300
Political groups	Government:      Saenuri (156) Opposition:      The Minjoo (119)      Justice (5)      Independents (13)      vacant (7)
Length of term	4 years
Elections
Voting system	Parallel voting: First-past-the-post (single member constituencies) Party-list proportional representation (national lists)
Last election	11 April 2012
Meeting place
The National Assembly Building at Seoul, in September 2014. ()
Website
korea.na.go.kr

National Assembly
Hangul	대한민국국회
Hanja	大韓民國國會
Revised Romanization	Daehanminguk Gukhoe
McCune–Reischauer	Taehanminguk Kukhoe
National Assembly
Hangul	국회
Hanja	國會
Revised Romanization	Gukhoe
McCune–Reischauer	Kukhoe

The National Assembly, officially the National Assembly of the Republic of Korea, is the 300-member unicameral national legislature of South Korea. The latest legislative elections were held on 11 April 2012. Single-member constituencies comprise 246 of the assembly's seats, while the remaining 54 are allocated by proportional representation. Members serve four-year terms.

The unicameral assembly consists of at least 200 members according to the South Korean constitution. In 1990 the assembly had 299 seats, 224 of which were directly elected from single-member districts in the general elections of April 1988. Under applicable laws, the remaining seventy-five representatives were elected from party lists. By law, candidates for election to the assembly must be at least thirty years of age. As part of a political compromise in 1987, an earlier requirement that candidates have at least five years' continuous residency in the country was dropped to allow Kim Dae-Jung, who had spent several years in exile in Japan and the United States during the 1980s, to return to political life. The National Assembly's term is four years. In a change from the more authoritarian Fourth Republic and Fifth Republic (1972–80 and 1980–87, respectively), under the Sixth Republic, the assembly cannot be dissolved by the president.

Current composition

See also: South Korean legislative election, 2012 and List of members of the 19th National Assembly of South Korea

Parties in the 20th National Assembly of South Korea
(as of 30 May 2016)

Group	Floor leader	Seats		% of seats
Minjoo	Woo Sang-ho	123		41.0%
Saenuri	Chung Jin-suk	122		40.7%
People's	Park Jie-won	38		12.7%
Justice	Roh Hoe-chan	6		2.0%
Independents		11		3.7%
Total		300		100.0%
Notes: Negotiation groups can be formed by 20 or more members. There are currently 3 negotiation groups in the Assembly, formed by the Minjoo Party of Korea, the Saenuri Party, and the People's Party.

Structure and appointment

Speaker

The constitution stipulates that the assembly is presided over by a Speaker and two Deputy Speakers, who are responsible for expediting the legislative process. The Speaker and Deputy Speakers are elected in a secret ballot by the members of the Assembly, and their term in office is restricted to two years. The Speaker is independent of party affiliation, and the Speaker and Deputy Speakers may not simultaneously be government ministers.

Negotiation groups

Parties that hold at least 20 seats in the assembly form floor negotiation groups (Korean: 교섭단체, RR: gyoseop danche), which are entitled to a variety of rights that are denied to smaller parties. These include a greater amount of state funding and participation in the leaders' summits that determine the assembly's legislative agenda.

Legislative process

To introduce a bill, a legislator must present the initiative to the Speaker with the signatures of at least ten other members of the assembly. The bill must then be edited by a committee to ensure that the bill contains correct and systematic language. It can then be approved or rejected by the Assembly.

Election

See also: Elections in South Korea

Since the promulgation of the March 1988 electoral law, the assembly has been elected every four years through a Supplementary Member system, meaning that some of the members are elected from constituencies according to the system of first past the post, while others are elected at a national level through proportional representation. As of 2012, 246 members represent constituencies, while 54 were elected from PR lists. In contrast to elections to the Assembly, presidential elections occur once every five years, and this has led to frequent situations of minority government and legislative deadlock.

Reform proposals

A proposal to lower the number of seats required to form a negotiation group to 15 was passed on 24 July 2000, but was overturned by the Constitutional Court later that month. In order to meet the quorum, the United Liberal Democrats, who then held 17 seats, arranged to "rent" three legislators from the Millennium Democratic Party. The legislators returned to the MDP after the collapse of the ULD–MDP coalition in September 2001.

Legislative violence

From 2004 to 2009, the assembly gained notoriety as a frequent site for legislative violence. The Assembly first came to the world's attention during a violent dispute on impeachment proceedings for then President Roh Moo-hyun, when open physical combat took place in the assembly. Since then, it has been interrupted by periodic conflagrations, piquing the world's curiosity once again in 2009 when members battled each other with sledgehammers and fire extinguishers. Images of the melee were broadcast around the world.

History

South Korean National Assembly in the 1980s

First Republic

See also: First Republic of South Korea

Elections for the assembly were held under UN supervision on 10 May 1948. The First Republic of South Korea was established on 17 July 1948 when the constitution of the First Republic was established by the Assembly. The Assembly also had the job of electing the President, and elected anti-communist Syngman Rhee as President on 10 May 1948.

Under the first constitution, the National Assembly was unicameral. Under the second and third constitutions, the National Assembly became bicameral and consisted of the House of Commons and the Senate, but actually unicameral with the House of Commons because the House of Commons could not pass a bill to establish the Senate.

.

Third Republic

See also: Third Republic of South Korea

Since the reopen of the National Assembly in 1963 until today, it has been unicameral.

Fourth Republic

See also: Fourth Republic of South Korea

Fifth Republic

See also: Fifth Republic of South Korea

Sixth Republic

See also: Sixth Republic of South Korea

      Conservative       Liberal       Progressive

      majority       lack majority       largest minority

National Assembly	Majority Party		Majority Leader	Seats	Speaker	Seats	Minority Leaders	Minority Parties
13th (1988)		DJP ↓ DLP		125↓ 219	1988-1990 Kim Jae-sun (supported by DJP→DLP) 1990-1992 Park Jyun-kyu (supported by DLP)	70			PPD→DP (91)
						59↓ 0			RDP merge with DJP 1990
						35↓ 0			NDRP merge with DJP 1990
14th (1992)		DLP ↓ NKP		149↓ 119	1992-1993 Park Jyun-kyu (supported by DLP) 1993-1993 Hwang Nak-joo (supported by DP) 1993-1994 Lee Man-sup (supported by DLP) 1994-1996 Park Jyun-kyu (supported by DLP→NKP)	97			DP (91)→NCNP
						31↓ 0			UPP merge with ULD in 1995
						0↓ 61			ULD split from DLP in 1995
15th (1996)		NKP ↓ GNP	1999-2000 Lee Bu-young	139	1996-1998 Kim Soo-han (supported by NKP→GNP) 1998-2000 Park Jyun-kyu (supported by GNP)	79			NCNP→MDP
						50			ULD
						15			UDP (95)→DP (95)
16th (2000)		GNP	2000-2000 Lee Bu-young 2000-2001 Jeon Chang-hwa 2001-2002 Lee Jae-oh 2002-2003 Lee Kyu-taek 2003-2004 Hong Sa-duk	133↓ 150	2000-2002 Lee Man-sup (supported by GNP) 2002-2004 Park Kwan-jong (supported by GNP)	115↓ 73			MDP
						0↓ 47	2003-2004 Kim Geun-tae		UP split from MDP in 2003
						17↓ 0			ULD merge with GNP in 2006
17th (2004)		UP ↓ UDP	2004-2004 Kim Geun-tae (UP) 2004-2005 Cheon Jeong-bae (UP) 2005-2006 Chung Sye-kyun (UP) 2006-2007 Kim Han-gil (UP) 2007-2008 Chang Yong-dal (UP) 2007-2008 Kim Hyo-seok (UDP)	152	2004-2006 Kim Won-ki (supported by UP) 2006-2008 Lim Chae-jung (supported by UP→UDP)	121	2004-2004 Hong Sa-duk 2004-2005 Kim Deok-ryong 2005-2006 Kang Jae-sup 2006-2006 Lee Jae-oh 2006-2007 Kim Hyong-o 2007-2008 Ahn Sang-soo		GNP
						10			DLP
18th (2008)		GNP ↓ SP	2008-2008 Ahn Sang-soo 2008-2009 Hong Jun-pyo 2009-2010 Ahn Sang-soo 2010-2011 Kim Moo-sung 2011-2012 Hwang Woo-yea	153	2008-2010 Kim Hyong-o (supported by GNP) 2010-2012 Park Hee-tae (supported by GNP) 2012-2012 Chung Eui-hwa (supported by GNP→SP)	81	2008-2008 Kim Hyo-seok (UDP) 2008-2009 Won Hye-young (UDP→DP) 2009-2010 Lee Kang-lae (DP) 2010-2011 Park Jie-won (DP) 2011-2012 Kim Jin-pyo (DP→DUP)		UDP→DP (08)→DUP
						18	2008-2010 Kwon Sun-taik 2010-2010 Ryu Keun-chan 2010-2011 Kwon Sun-taik 2011-2012 Kim Nack-sung		LFP
						5	2008-2008 Kwon Young-ghil (DLP) 2008-2012 Kang Gi-gap (DLP→UPP)		DLP→UPP
						14↓ 0	2008-2012 Roh Cheol-Lae		PPC→FHA merge with SP in 2012
19th (2012)		SP	2012-2012 Hwang Woo-yea 2012-2013 Lee Hahn-koo 2013-2014 Choi Kyoung-hwan 2014-2015 Lee Wan-koo 2015- Ryu Seung-min	152↓ 158↓ 160	2012-2014 Kang Chang-hee (supported by SP) 2014- Chung Ui-hwa (supported by SP)	127↓ 130	2012-2012 Kim Jin-pyo (DUP) 2012-2012 Park Jie-won (DUP) 2012-2013 Park Ki-choon (DUP→DP) 2013-2014 Jeon Byeong-hun (DP→NPAD) 2014-2014 Park Young-sun (NPAD) 2014-2014 Kim Young-rok (NPAD) 2014-2015 Woo Yoon-keun (NPAD) 2015- Lee Jong-kul (NPAD)		DUP→DP (11)→NPAD
						5	2012-2013 Kang Dong-won 2013-2015 Sim Sang-jeong 2015- Jeong Jin-hoo		JP split from UPP in 2012
						13↓ 5↓ 0	2012-2012 Kang Gi-gap 2012-2014 Kim Seon-dong 2014 Oh Byeong-yun		UPP banned in 2014
						5↓ 0	2011-2012 Kim Nack-sung 2012-2012 Seong Wan-Jong		LFP→AUP merge with SP in 2012

See also

• Supreme People's Assembly, the North Korean legislature
• Politics of South Korea
• List of Korea-related topics
• National Assembly
• Senate of South Korea
• House of Commons
• List of legislatures by country

References

• U.S. Library of Congress Country Studies