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The 'National Assembly' of South Korea is a 299-member^[1] unicameral legislature. The latest parliamentary elections were held on April 15 2004. Single-member constituencies comprise 243 of the National Assembly's seats, while the remaining 56 are allocated by proportional representation.^[2] Members serve four-year terms.

The unicameral National Assembly consists, according to the Constitution, of at least 200 members. In 1990 the National Assembly had 299 seats, 224 of which were directly elected from single-member districts in the general elections of April 1988. Under applicable laws, the remaining seventy-five representatives were appointed by the political parties in accordance with a proportional formula based on the number of seats won in the election. By law, candidates for election to the National Assembly must be at least thirty years of age. As part of a political compromise in 1987, an earlier requirement that candidates have at least five years' continuous residency in the country was dropped to allow Kim Dae Jung, who had spent several years in exile in Japan and the United States during the 1980s, to return to political life. The National Assembly's term is four years. In a change from the more authoritarian Fourth Republic and Fifth Republic (1972–80 and 1980–87, respectively), under the Sixth Republic, the National Assembly cannot be dissolved by the president.
Legislators are immune from arrest or detention, except in cases of flagrante delicto, while the National Assembly is in session. If an arrest occurs before the National Assembly session begins, the legislator concerned must be released for the duration of the session. National Assembly members also enjoy legal immunity for statements made in that forum. Greater freedom of the media and independence of the courts, combined with the power of the opposition parties in the legislature, gave greater substance to this immunity during the first two years of the Sixth Republic than under the preceding government, when prosecutors and the courts did not honor such immunity.
The position of the National Assembly in the Constitution is much stronger than it had been under the Fifth Republic. The annual session of the National Assembly was extended to 100 days. Extraordinary sessions of thirty days each might be called by as little as one-quarter of the membership (versus one-third in the 1980 constitution); and there was no limit on the number of such sessions that could be called each year. The power to investigate state affairs also was strengthened. The National Assembly now held the power to remove the prime minister or a cabinet minister at any time, rather than having to wait a year following appointment, as had been the case before. The consent of the National Assembly was required for the appointment of all Supreme Court justices, not just the chief justice. The National Assembly performed a tie-breaking function in presidential elections and was required to approve or to disapprove presidential emergency measures before they took effect, time permitting. Failure to obtain National Assembly approval would void the emergency measures.

Contents

Latest election

History

First Republic

Second Republic

Third Republic

Fourth Republic

Fifth Republic

References

See also

Latest election

Main articles: South Korean parliamentary election, 2004

History

First Republic

Elections for the National Assembly were held under UN supervision ^[3] on 10 May 1948. The First Republic of South Korea was established on 17 July 1948 ^[4] when the constitution of the First Republic was established by the Assembly. The Assembly also had the job of electing the President, and elected anti-communist Syngman Rhee as President on 10 May 1948.

Second Republic

Third Republic

Fourth Republic

Fifth Republic

References

★ U.S. Library of Congress Country Studies
1. "299-member" is provided at the article 21 clause 1 in the law of election () of South Korea.
2. The National Assembly of the Republic of Korea - http://korea.na.go.kr/int/org_03.jsp?leftid=AC
3. http://korea50.army.mil/history/factsheets/overview.shtml
4. http://www.oefre.unibe.ch/law/icl/ks__indx.html

See also

★ South Korea: Politics of South Korea

★ North Korea: Politics of North Korea

★ National Assembly

★ National Assembly Building

★ List of Korea-related topics

★ Politics of South Korea