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National Assembly of the Republic of Korea 대한민국 국회 大韓民國國會 Daehanminguk Gukhoe
22nd National Assembly
Type
Type	Unicameral
Leadership
Speaker	Woo Won-shik, Independent
Deputy Speaker	Lee Hak-young, Democratic
Deputy Speaker	Joo Ho-young, People Power
Secretary General	Kim Min-ki, Independent
Structure
Seats	300
Political groups	Government (108)   People Power (108) Opposition (192)   Democratic (170)   Rebuilding Korea (12)   New Reform (3)   Progressive (3)   Basic Income (1)   Social Democratic (1)   Independent (1)
Length of term	4 years
Salary	US$128,610
Elections
Voting system	Parallel voting 254 seats by FPTP 46 seats by party-list PR using largest remainder method
Last election	10 April 2024
Next election	April 2028
Meeting place
Main Conference Room National Assembly Building, Seoul 37°31′55.21″N 126°54′50.66″E / 37.5320028°N 126.9140722°E / 37.5320028; 126.9140722
Website
assembly.go.kr

The National Assembly of the Republic of Korea (Korean: 대한민국 국회) is the unicameral national legislature of South Korea. Elections to the National Assembly are held every four years. The latest legislative elections were held on 10 April 2024. The current National Assembly held its first meeting, and also began its current four year term, on 30 May 2024. The current Speaker was elected 5 June 2024. The National Assembly has 300 seats, with 253 constituency seats and 47 proportional representation seats; 30 of the PR seats are assigned an 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, 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 (1972–81 and 1981–87, respectively), under the Sixth Republic, the assembly cannot be dissolved by the president.

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v t e

Building

The main building in Yeouido, Seoul, is a stone structure with seven stories above ground and one story below ground. The building has 24 columns, which means the legislature's promise to listen to people 24/7 throughout the year.

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 (to compared to the two vice-speakers who are affiliated with the two leading political parties), and the Speaker and Deputy Speakers may not simultaneously be government ministers.

The Secretary General of the National Assembly is the head of the Secretariat of the National Assembly, which is the department that oversees the affairs of the National Assembly. They are government officials and are treated as ministers. (Ministerial level). As with the President of the National Assembly, party membership is limited and he must be affiliated to no political party during his term in the Assembly.

Negotiation groups

Parties that hold at least 20 seats in the assembly form floor negotiation groups (Korean: 교섭단체, Hanja: 交涉團體, 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.

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 process

For a legislator to introduce a bill, they must submit the proposal to the Speaker, accompanied by the signatures of at least ten other assembly members. A committee must then review the bill to verify that it employs precise and orderly language. Following this, the Assembly may either approve or reject the bill.

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
• Education Committee
• Science, ICT, Broadcasting and Communications Committee
• Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee
• National Defense Committee
• Public Administration and Security Committee
• Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee
• Agriculture, Food, Rural Affairs, Oceans and Fisheries Committee
• Trade, Industry, Energy, SMEs and Startups 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 254 constituency seats under FPTP and 46 proportional representation seats. With electoral reform taken in 2019, the PR seats apportionment method was replaced by a variation of additional member system from the previous parallel voting system. However, 17 seats were temporarily assigned under parallel voting in the 2020 South Korean legislative election.

Per Article 189 of Public Official Election Act, the PR seats are awarded to parties that have either obtained at least 3% of the total valid votes in the legislative election or at least five constituency seats. The number of seats allocated to each eligible party is decided by the formula:

$${\displaystyle n_{\text{initial}}=\left\lfloor {\frac {(n_{\text{Assembly}}-n_{\text{ineligibles}})\times {\text{PR votes ratio}}-n_{\text{obtained constituencies}}+1}{2}}\right\rfloor }$$

where

• n_Assembly = total number of seats in the National Assembly.
• n_ineligibles = number of seats obtained by ineligible parties and independents.
• n_{obtained constituencies} = number of constituency seats obtained by the party.
• n_ams = total number of seats allocated for additional member system.

If the integer is less than 1, then n_initial is set to 0 and the party does not get any seats. Then the sum of initially allocated seats is compared to the total seats for the additional member system and recalculated.

$${\displaystyle n_{\text{remainder}}=\left(n_{\text{ams}}-\sum n_{\text{initial}}\right)\times {\text{PR votes ratio}}}$$

$${\displaystyle n_{\text{final}}={\begin{cases}n_{\text{initial}}+n_{\text{remainder}},&{\text{if }}\sum n_{\text{initial}}<n_{\text{ams}}\\n_{\text{ams}}\times {\dfrac {n_{\text{initial}}}{\sum n_{\text{initial}}}},&{\text{if }}\sum n_{\text{initial}}>n_{\text{ams}}\end{cases}}}$$

Final seats are assigned through the largest remainder method, and if the remainder is equal, the winner is determined by lottery among the relevant political parties.

The voting age 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, 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 has taken preventive measures to prevent any more legislative violence.

Historical composition

History

First Republic

Elections for the assembly were held under UN supervision on 10 May 1948. The First Republic of 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 was to be bicameral and consist of the House of Representatives and the House of Councillors, 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.

  Conservative   Liberal   Progressive

  majority   plurality only   largest minority

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

  majority   plurality   largest minority

Members

• List of members of the South Korean Constituent Assembly
• List of members of the National Assembly (South Korea), 1950–1954
• List of members of the National Assembly (South Korea), 1954–1958
• List of members of the National Assembly (South Korea), 1981–1985
• List of members of the National Assembly (South Korea), 1985–1988
• List of members of the National Assembly (South Korea), 1988–1992
• 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), 2000–2004
• List of members of the National Assembly (South Korea), 2004–2008
• List of members of the National Assembly (South Korea), 2008–2012
• List of members of the National Assembly (South Korea), 2012–2016
• List of members of the National Assembly (South Korea), 2016–2020
• List of members of the National Assembly (South Korea), 2020–2024
• List of members of the National Assembly (South Korea), 2024–2028

Television broadcast

Symbols

• Emblem of the National Assembly (1947–2014)
• Flag of the National Assembly (1947–2014)
• Flag of the National Assembly (from 2014)

See also

• List of political parties in South Korea
• Politics of South Korea
• National Assembly TV
• Supreme People's Assembly, the North Korean legislature
• 2019 South Korean National Assembly attack

Notes

1. Article 21, Clause 1 of the Election Law

References

1. "1st meeting of 22nd parliament's DP lawmakers". Yonhap News Agency. 30 May 2024. Retrieved 2 June 2024.
2. Wonju, Yi (30 May 2024). "National Assembly begins new 4-year term". Yonhap News Agency. Retrieved 4 June 2024.
3. "DP's Woo Won-shik Elected as Speaker of 22nd National Assembly amid PPP Boycott". 5 June 2024. Retrieved 5 June 2024.
4. Jung-joo, Lee (30 May 2024). "22nd Assembly begins new 4-year term". The Korea Herald. Retrieved 2 June 2024.
5. "HISTORY & HERITAGE". The National Assembly of the Republic of Korea.
6. Article 48 of the Constitution of the Republic of Korea.
7. ^ Park, Young-Do (2010). "Kapitel 2: Verfassungsrecht". Einführung in das koreanische Recht [Introduction to Korean Law] (in German). Springer. p. 25. ISBN 9783642116032.
8. Youngmi Kim (2011). The Politics of Coalition in South Korea. Taylor & Francis, p. 65.
9. Y. Kim, pp. 68–9.
10. Park 2010, p. 27.
11. "Standing Committees and Special Committees of the National Assembly". National Assembly (in Korean).
12. 김, 광태 (23 December 2019). "(2nd LD) Opposition party launches filibuster against electoral reform bill". Yonhap News Agency. Archived from the original on 3 January 2020. Retrieved 3 January 2020.
13. 국가법령정보센터. www.law.go.kr. Retrieved 26 January 2023.
14. 국가법령정보센터. www.law.go.kr. Retrieved 26 January 2023.
15. "18-year-olds Hit the Polls for First Time in S. Korea". Korea Bizwire. 15 April 2020. Archived from the original on 19 April 2020. Retrieved 19 April 2020.
16. "The World's Most Unruly Parliaments". 16 September 2009.
17. "South Korean president impeached". 12 March 2004 – via news.bbc.co.uk.
18. "In pictures: Impeachment battle". 12 March 2004 – via news.bbc.co.uk.
19. Glionna, By John M. (28 January 2009). "South Korea lawmakers: Reaching across the aisle with a sledgehammer". Los Angeles Times.
20. "South Korean politicians use fire extinguishers against opposition". 18 December 2008. Archived from the original on 12 January 2022 – via www.telegraph.co.uk.
21. "Hall of Violence". 2 March 2009.
22. Setting the Stage Archived 16 July 2007 at the Wayback Machine
23. ICL – South Korea Index Archived 13 December 2006 at the Wayback Machine

• U.S. Library of Congress Country Studies

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v t e Political parties in South Korea
Parliamentary	Democratic Party (170) People Power Party (108) Rebuilding Korea Party (12) New Reform Party (3) Progressive Party (3) New Future Democratic Party (1) Basic Income Party (1) Social Democratic Party (1)
Extraparliamentary	Green Party Justice Party Labor Party Liberal Unification Party Mirae Party National Revolutionary Party New National Participation Party Open Democratic Party Our Republican Party Minsaeng Party People's Democracy Party Saenuri Party Women's Party
Defunct First–Second Republic (1948–63) Democratic Nationalist Party Democratic Party (1955) Korea Democratic Party Korea Independence Party Korea Nationalist Party Laboring People's Party Liberal Party National Association National Independence Federation Progressive Party (1956) Workers' Party of South Korea Third–Fourth Republic (1963–81) Democratic Republican Party New Democratic Party People's Party (1963) United Socialist Party Fifth Republic (1981–88) Democratic Justice Party Democratic Korea Party Korean National Party New Korean Democratic Party Sixth Republic (1988–) Advancement Unification Party Bareun Party Chinbak Yeondae Creative Korea Party Dawn of Liberty Party Democratic Labor Party Democratic Party (1990) Democratic Party (1991) Democratic Party (2000) Democratic Party (2007) Democratic Party (2008) Democratic Party (2011) Democratic People's Party Democratic Republican Party Evergreen Korea Party Free Korea 21 Future Democratic Party Future Hope Alliance Grand National Unity Party Grand Unified Democratic New Party Hankyoreh Democratic Party Hannara Party (2012) Hope of Korea Korea Greens Korea Vision Party Liberty Korea Party Liberty Unification Party Minjoo Party (2014) National Congress for New Politics New Alternative Party New Conservative Party New Future Party New Korea Party New Korea Party of Hope New People's Party New Progressive Party New Wave Onward for Future 4.0 Open Democratic Party Participation Party Peace Democratic Party People First Party People Party People's Party (2016) People's United Party Platform Party Popular Party Pro-Park New Party Real Democratic Party Reunification Democratic Party Socialist Party Transition Korea Unification National Party Unified Progressive Party United Democratic Party (1995) United Liberal Democrats Uri Party
Politics of South Korea List of ruling political parties by country Politics portal

v t e Members of the National Assembly of South Korea
Members	1948–50 1950–54 1954–58 1958–60 1960–61 1963–67 1967–71 1971–72 1973–79 1979–80 1981–85 1985–88 1988–92 1992–96 1996–00 2000–04 2004–08 2008–12 2012–16 2016–20 2020–24 2024–28

• National Assembly (South Korea)
• National legislatures
• Government of South Korea
• Unicameral legislatures