National Assembly Passes Nomination of Sungsoo Kim and Follow-up Prosecution Reform Bills

On September 17, the National Assembly held a plenary session and passed both the nomination consent bill for Supreme Court nominee Kim Seongsu and a series of follow-up bills related to prosecutorial reform. The People Power Party made its opposition clear to the follow-up prosecutorial reform bills, stating that they are "laws that will undermine the criminal justice system," and cast dissenting votes.

The nomination consent bill for Supreme Court nominee Kim Seongsu was passed in the National Assembly plenary session on the 17th. The nomination consent bill for nominee Kim was approved with 227 votes in favor, 28 against, and 13 abstentions out of 268 members present. September 17, 2026 Photo by Dongju Yoon

During the afternoon plenary session, the Assembly put the nomination consent bill for Kim to a vote. Of the 268 total votes cast, 227 were in favor, 28 against, and 13 abstentions, leading to the bill’s approval. As a result, after receiving official approval from President Lee Jaemyung, Kim will begin his six-year term as a Supreme Court justice.

Previously, on August 31, President Lee had formally requested the Assembly’s consent to Kim’s appointment. The Assembly formed a special personnel hearing committee for Supreme Court appointments and held a confirmation hearing on September 14. On September 16, the committee unanimously adopted the confirmation hearing report for nominee Kim in a full session.

Subsequently, the Assembly moved to process more than 70 bills. Notably, over 50 follow-up prosecutorial reform bills were introduced in the plenary session that day. These bills were supplementary measures required after the revised Criminal Procedure Act was passed during the plenary session in July. Each standing committee reviewed and submitted measures for issues that could not be addressed by revising the supplementary provisions.

For example, the amendment to the law on the security of the President and others changes the authority to designate special judicial police among presidential security officials from the "Chief Prosecutor of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office" to the "Chief Prosecutor of the Seoul Central District Public Prosecution Office." Other bills also included updates reflecting the revisions to the Criminal Procedure Act and the establishment of the Public Prosecution Act.

During the debate before the vote, Park Hyungsoo, a lawmaker from the People Power Party, said, "Of course, we object to the fruits (the follow-up bills) borne from a rotten root (the Criminal Procedure Act)," emphasizing, "We must reject these bills and restore supplemental investigation powers to achieve genuine legislative reform that is truly for the people. The outcome today will be judged by history in the future."

By contrast, Lee Sungyun, a lawmaker from the Democratic Party of Korea, remarked, "Prosecutorial reform means reforming or abolishing the prosecution—which once served military dictatorships and later became a monster after democratization—and returning it to the people," and stressed, "We must ensure genuine reform so that a second political prosecutor like Yoon Seokyeol will never be resurrected again."

The People Power Party exercised its right to vote against the related bills. Kim Taegyu, the party’s senior spokesperson, said immediately after the general meeting, "Our party is fundamentally opposed to the revised Criminal Procedure Act that undermines the criminal justice system. Except for the bill concerning the disabled, we decided to vote against all others." However, due to the difference in the number of seats, they were unable to block the passage of the bills.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.