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Prime minister`s post likely to remain vacant for record period

Prime minister`s post likely to remain vacant for record period

Posted May. 22, 2015 07:38,   

한국어

Although President Park Geun-hye named Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn as the new prime minister, she will likely be recorded as a president with the longest period of vacuum of the position in South Korea`s history.

Before the Roh Moo-hyun administration, there was a prime minister-designate system, which allowed a prime minister nominee perform his or her duty even before being officially sworn in. Since the system was abolished, however, there has been frequent vacuum of the No. 2 post in the administration. Particularly, when a prime minister steps down or is dismissed suddenly, the post was often left vacant until a new one is officially appointed after passing parliamentary confirmation hearings. Under the Roh administration, three successive prime ministers – Koh Gun, Lee Hae-chan and Han Myeong-sook – were sworn in to replace acting prime ministers.

Since the abolishment of the prime minister-designate system, the longest vacuum of the post was 50 days. After then Prime Minister Chung Un-chan resigned on August 11, 2010 in the wake of heated controversies over a bill calling cancelling the relocation of central government complexes to Sejong, Planning and Finance Minister Yoon Jeung-hyun served as acting prime minister for 50 days until Prime Minister Kim Hwang-sik was sworn in. The vacuum was prolonged by nominee Kim Tae-ho resigned during the process of confirmation hearings.

The current administration is into the 24th day of vacuum in the post of prime minister after Lee Wan-koo resigned amid a bribery scandal. Considering that the confirmation process takes three to four weeks, the administration will not be able to return to normal until mid-June, meaning that the vacuum could last for more than 50 days.

"We plan to proceed with the confirmation process as quickly as possible because there are a number of urgent issues including an economic recovery," said a key official in the ruling Saenuri Party. "President Park will likely be able to appoint a new prime minister before her planned tripped to the United States in mid-June."



leon@donga.com