President Lee Jae Myung's Cabinet nominees will face the scrutiny of the National Assembly starting from July 14.
The main opposition People Power Party on Tuesday launched a committee to prepare for the confirmation hearings about to get underway. The People Power Party said experts in respective fields will participate in the committee for outside input.
Rep. Song Eon-seog, the People Power Party's floor leader, said the ruling Democratic Party of Korea and the Lee administration were feared to push ahead with nominations before they could be thoroughly scrutinized.
Lee's most controversial Cabinet choice to date has been Rep. Kim Min-seok, who took office as prime minister Monday despite opposition grilling surrounding violations of campaign finance laws and allegations involving how he accrued his wealth.
The National Assembly on Tuesday approved the proposals for the confirmation hearings of three Cabinet positions, for defense minister, science minister and oceans minister.
Lee's pick to be defense minister is five-term Rep. Ahn Gyu-back, who was the top adviser of his presidential campaign. In nominating Ahn, Lee is sticking to his pledge to put a civilian who has not had a professional career in the military in charge of the Ministry of Defense.
So far, Ahn does not appear to face any major obstacles to his confirmation. Ahn will appear before the National Assembly for his hearing on July 15.
The hearing for Bae Kyung-hoon, a corporate artificial intelligence expert named to be Lee's minister of science and ICT, is set for July 14. Lee's nomination of Bae, who led LG's AI strategies, is in line with the president's emphasis on AI.
Also on July 14, Rep. Chun Jae-soo, Lee's choice to be minister of oceans and fisheries, will get a hearing. Chun is a three-term Democratic Party lawmaker representing Busan, a port city where the president is looking to relocate the Oceans Ministry headquarters.
arin@heraldcorp.com
