On the 2nd, National Assembly Speaker Woo Won-shik emphasized that the selection of three Constitutional Court justice candidates nominated by the National Assembly was based on an agreement between the ruling and opposition parties. He released the exchanged official documents to support this claim.
Speaker Woo revealed on Facebook the official documents sent to the National Assembly Secretariat on December 9th, in which the People Power Party nominated Jo Han-chang, while the Democratic Party nominated Jung Gye-seon and Ma Eun-hyuk as candidates for Constitutional Court justices.
Speaker Woo explained that after receiving a notification from the Constitutional Court on August 13th, stating that the terms of Justices Lee Jong-seok, Lee Young-jin, and Kim Ki-young would expire on October 17th, the National Assembly sent a copy of this notification to the floor leaders of the People Power Party and the Democratic Party on August 16th.
Furthermore, on December 9th, the People Power Party sent an official document recommending Jo Han-chang, and the Democratic Party sent one recommending Ma Eun-hyuk and Jung Gye-seon to the Speaker.
Speaker Woo reported that the floor leaders of both parties had stated on November 19th, that they agreed to recommend three candidates for Constitutional Court justices. Choo Kyung-ho, then floor leader of the People Power Party, stated they agreed to complete the recommendations by the 22nd. Democratic Party floor leader Park Chan-dae also confirmed the effort to finalize the recommendations and have them appointed during the regular National Assembly session.
The released official documents served to refute the statement by Acting President Choi Sang-mok on December 31st, that only Jung Gye-seon and Jo Han-chang would be appointed out of the three nominees, pending confirmation of a bipartisan agreement for Ma Eun-hyuk’s appointment.
Speaker Woo argued that since the bipartisan agreement was confirmed through official documents, Ma Eun-hyuk should be immediately appointed as well. He plans to file a jurisdictional dispute application on the 3rd if there is no change in Acting President Choi’s stance.