Rep. Song Ki-hun, head of the Democratic Party of Korea’s task force on election commission reform, and other lawmakers hold a news conference Thursday at the National Assembly in Seoul. Photo by Asia Today
July 9 (Asia Today) — South Korea’s ruling Democratic Party of Korea said Thursday it will propose three bills aimed at overhauling the National Election Commission, including making the commission’s chair a full-time position and introducing a confirmation hearing system for its secretary general.
The party’s task force on election commission reform held a news conference at the National Assembly and said it prepared the bills to respond “more preemptively and actively” to what it called a recent infringement of citizens’ voting rights.
The package includes revisions to the National Election Commission Act, the National Assembly Act and the Personnel Hearing Act.
The party plans to change the National Election Commission chair from a part-time to a full-time position. It said the change is intended to improve the current part-time structure and create a system in which the commission’s major affairs are managed and supervised more effectively.
The bills would also increase the number of full-time National Election Commission members from one to three. Each would be responsible for a separate area, including election and voting management, investigations and enforcement, and organizational operations.
To improve transparency in the commission’s personnel system, the party also plans to require that the commission’s secretary general be appointed from outside the agency and be subject to a National Assembly confirmation hearing.
The package would establish an audit committee made up entirely of outside members to create an independent auditing structure. It would also require audit results and post-election management evaluation reports to be submitted to the National Assembly.
Until now, audits of the election commission have been conducted through an audit committee system based on the commission’s internal rules.
The party said it also plans to revise the National Assembly Act and the Personnel Hearing Act to set procedures for the secretary general’s confirmation hearing.
The Democratic Party also signaled that it is preparing a constitutional amendment to complete broader election commission reform.
“As a constitutionally independent body, the National Election Commission is guaranteed a high level of independence, so an even higher level of accountability and transparency is required,” the task force said. “We believe fundamental reform is necessary and are preparing a separate constitutional amendment.”
The task force plans to draft the constitutional amendment after an expert discussion forum and its eighth meeting on July 20.
— Reported by Asia Today; translated by UPI
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Original Korean report: https://www.asiatoday.co.kr/kn/view.php?key=20260709010003687
