Official Notice to Congress Over Weekend, Hearing Near This Month’s End

On September 10, 2002, President Kim Dae-jung designated Kim Seok Su, who has chaired a government ethics committee, new Prime Minister and gave him Certificate.

The designation came in 13 days since Congress rejected approval of former Acting Premier Chang Dae-hwan on Aug. 28. The government plans to submit Kim’s credentials to Congress as early as the end of this week. Thus, the Congressional Approval Hearing would be convened near the end of this month.

In a ceremony granting premiership to new acting Premier, President Kim reminded Kim, “We have a duty to conduct the upcoming presidential election perfectly fair. Until the end of my term, we have to approach North step by step and make realized better relations with North, thus leaving more solid foundations for the next administration.”

Acting Premier Kim held a press conference at the Government Complex right after the ceremony and said, “President has consistently persuaded me. He stressed that no more vacancy be continued in governance. I thought it is my duty as a citizen of this country to take the job. So I finally decided to take the job.” He also emphasized, “I will do my best to prevent the ripple effects of lame duck from taking on the government employees. Therefore, the social stability is not damaged and the upcoming presidential election in December can be managed fairly.”

Blue House disclosed that the first son of Kim did not serve in the army due to medical problems, and Kim himself has served as a supervisory director of Samsung Electronics. But it added that Kim did not give a special advice to Samsung and, thus, that would not be a problem. On Sep. 10, Prime Minister-designate Kim resigned all of the positions he has retained: supervisory director of Samsung, chairmanship of the Government Ethics Committee, Ethics Chairman of Korea Press and Auditor of Yensei Univ.

Grand National Party’s Spokesman Nam Kyung-pil commented, “We will review Premier-designate Kim, focusing on his credentials such as his administrative ability, political neutrality and ethics. We just hope that he would not have defects that his predecessors have.”

Millennium Democratic Party’s Spokesperson Lee Nak-yon opined, “Kim is moral and ethical in all respects. That is the opinions on Kim from all quarters. Especially, he seems a most eligible person to handle the presidential election fairly.”

Once Congress is officially notified of his designation, Congress shall compose an approval committee consisting of up to 13 members. After 12 days of preparation, the committee shall conduct hearing for up to 3 days. Then, in the main session, approval is decided by vote. The passage of the approval requires the approval by the majority of the congressmen attended, which in turn shall be more than half of all congressmen registered. Currently, GNP retains 139 congressmen, MDP 112, FDP 14, and independents 7.

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