The National Assembly of the Republic of Korea, often shortened to the National Assembly in domestic English-language media, is the
unicameral
Unicameralism (from ''uni''- "one" + Latin ''camera'' "chamber") is a type of legislature, which consists of one house or assembly, that legislates and votes as one.
Unicameral legislatures exist when there is no widely perceived need for multic ...
national
legislature
A legislature is an assembly with the authority to make law
Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its p ...
of
South Korea
South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...
.
Elections to the National Assembly are held every four years. The latest
legislative elections
A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...
were held on 15 April 2020. The National Assembly has 300 seats, with 253 constituency seats and 47 proportional representation seats; 30 of the PR seats are assigned on additional member system, while 17 PR seats use the parallel voting method.
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
Kim Dae-jung (; ; 6 January 192418 August 2009), was a South Korean politician and activist who served as the eighth president of South Korea from 1998 to 2003.
He was a 2000 Nobel Peace Prize recipient for his work for democracy and human ...
, 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
Structure and appointment
Speaker
The constitution stipulates that the assembly is presided over by a
Speaker
Speaker may refer to:
Society and politics
* Speaker (politics), the presiding officer in a legislative assembly
* Public speaker, one who gives a speech or lecture
* A person producing speech: the producer of a given utterance, especially:
** I ...
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 ( ko, 교섭단체,
Hanja
Hanja (Hangul: ; Hanja: , ), alternatively known as Hancha, are Chinese characters () used in the writing of Korean. Hanja was used as early as the Gojoseon period, the first ever Korean kingdom.
(, ) refers to Sino-Korean vocabulary, wh ...
: 交涉團體,
RR: ), 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.
In order to meet the quorum, the
United Liberal Democrats
The United Liberal Democrats ( ko, 자유민주연합, Yayuminjuyeonhab, Liberal Democratic Union, ULD) was a right-wing conservative political party in South Korea, whose support mostly came from the North Chungcheong and South Chungcheong regi ...
, 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 process
![Graph of South Korean Political Parties (2005-2018)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/58/Graph_of_South_Korean_Political_Parties_%282005-2018%29.png)
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.
Committees
There are 17 standing committees which examine bills and petitions falling under their respective jurisdictions, and perform other duties as prescribed by relevant laws.
* House Steering Committee
* Legislation and Judiciary Committee
* National Policy Committee
* Strategy and Finance Committee
* Science, ICT, Future Planning, Broadcasting and Communications Committee
* Education Committee
* Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee
* Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee
* National Defense Committee
* Security and Public Administration Committee
* Agriculture, Food, Rural Affairs, Oceans and Fisheries Committee
* Trade, Industry and Energy Committee
* Health and Welfare Committee
* Environment and Labor Committee
* Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee
* Intelligence Committee
* Gender Equality and Family Committee
Election
The National Assembly has 300 seats, with 253 constituency seats and 47 proportional representation seats. However, 30 of the PR seats are assigned on
additional member system, while 17 PR seats use the
parallel voting
Parallel voting is a type of mixed electoral system in which representatives are voted into a single chamber using two or more different systems, most often first-past-the-post voting (FPTP) with party-list proportional representation (PR). It ...
method. The
voting age
A voting age is a minimum age established by law that a person must attain before they become eligible to vote in a public election. The most common voting age is 18 years; however, voting ages as low as 16 and as high as 25 currently exist
( ...
was also lowered from 19 to 18 years old, expanding the electorate by over half a million voters.
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
Roh Moo-hyun (; ; 1 September 1946 – 23 May 2009) was a South Korean politician and lawyer who served as the ninth president of South Korea between 2003 and 2008.
Roh's pre-presidential political career was focused on human rights advocacy for ...
, 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. The National Assembly since then have preventive measures to prevent any more legislative violence.
History
First Republic
Elections for the assembly were held under UN supervision on 10 May 1948. The
First Republic of Korea
The first Republic of Korea () was the government of South Korea from August 1948 to April 1960. The first republic was founded on 15 August 1948 after the transfer from the United States Army Military Government that governed South Korea sin ...
was established on 17 July 1948
ICL – South Korea Index
when the constitution of the First Republic was established by the Assembly. The Assembly also had the job of electing the president
President most commonly refers to:
*President (corporate title)
*President (education), a leader of a college or university
*President (government title)
President may also refer to:
Automobiles
* Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...
and elected anti-communist Syngman Rhee
Syngman Rhee (, ; 26 March 1875 – 19 July 1965) was a South Korean politician who served as the first president of South Korea from 1948 to 1960.
Rhee was also the first and last president of the Provisional Government of the Republic of Ko ...
as president on 10 May 1948.
Under the first constitution, the National Assembly was unicameral. Under the second and third constitutions, the National Assembly was to be bicameral and consist of the House of Representatives
House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...
and the House of Councillors
The is the upper house of the National Diet of Japan. The House of Representatives is the lower house. The House of Councillors is the successor to the pre-war House of Peers. If the two houses disagree on matters of the budget, treaties, or ...
, but in practice the legislature was unicameral because the House of Representatives was prevented from passing the law necessary to establish the House of Councillors.
Second Republic
Third Republic
Since the reopening of the National Assembly in 1963 until today, it has been unicameral.
Fourth Republic
Fifth Republic
Sixth Republic
Members
*List of members of the South Korean Constituent Assembly
The members of the Constituent National Assembly (South Korea), Constituent National Assembly (the first National Assembly (South Korea), National Assembly of South Korea) were elected on 1948 South Korean Constitutional Assembly election, 10 May 1 ...
*
*
*
* List of members of the National Assembly (South Korea), 1985–1988
*
* List of members of the National Assembly (South Korea), 1992–1996
* List of members of the National Assembly (South Korea), 1996–2000
*
*
*
*
* List of members of the National Assembly (South Korea), 2016–2020
*
See also
*List of political parties in South Korea
This article lists political parties in South Korea.
South Korea has a weakly institutionalized multi-party system, characterized by frequent changes in party arrangements. Political parties have a chance of gaining power alone.
Current parties ...
*Politics of South Korea
The politics of the Republic of Korea take place in the framework of a presidential representative democratic republic, whereby the president is the head of state, and of a multi-party system. The government exercises executive power and ...
* National Assembly TV
*Supreme People's Assembly
The Supreme People's Assembly (SPA; ) is the unicameral legislature of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), commonly known as North Korea. It consists of one deputy from each of the DPRK's 687 constituencies, elected to five-year ...
, the North Korea
North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu River, Y ...
n legislature
* 2019 South Korean Capitol attack
References
U.S. Library of Congress Country Studies
{{DEFAULTSORT:National Assembly (South Korea)
Korea, South
South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...
Government of South Korea
South Korea
South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...