Adoption of the National Assembly's confirmation hearing progress report for nominee Lee Eok-won for Financial Services Commission chair failed due to opposition from the People Power Party. If bipartisan agreement is not reached even after a request to resend the hearing report, President Lee Jae-myung is expected to push ahead with appointing the Minister. With criticism continuing over what it means to appoint a new chief to an organization that will be dismantled in three months, controversy appears inevitable if the nominee's appointment is forced through.
According to the financial and political sectors on the 10th, adoption of the hearing report on the nominee fell through due to differences between the ruling and opposition parties. The People Power Party objected to adopting the hearing report for the nominee, taking issue with the government and ruling party pushing ahead with reorganizing the financial authorities.
Earlier, the National Policy Committee of the National Assembly held a confirmation hearing for nominee Choi on the 2nd. Under current law, the committee must submit a review report or a confirmation hearing report to the National Assembly speaker within three days from the date the hearing is concluded.
The president is said to be likely to request as early as today that the hearing report for the nominee be resent to the National Assembly. If adoption of the hearing report within the deadline fails at the National Assembly, the president may set a period within 10 days and request resubmission; if the National Assembly does not accept that either, the president can push ahead with appointing the Minister.
At the hearing, Commissioners from the People Power Party protested that holding a hearing for the nominee was meaningless with the Financial Services Commission set to be dismantled. The ruling party said it was an adjustment of duties, not the dismantling of the commission, adding, "We cannot reorganize the commission without discussions with the opposition." Accordingly, ruling and opposition Commissioners proceeded with the nominee's hearing as scheduled.
However, five days later, the government and ruling party finalized a reorganization plan to dismantle the commission and restructure it into the Ministry of Finance and Economy and the Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC), and to place the Financial Supervisory Service and the Financial Consumer Protection Service as public institutions under the FSC. In response, Yoon Han-hong, a People Power Party lawmaker who chairs the National Policy Committee, issued a statement saying, "No sooner had the hearing—conducted on the premise of 'maintaining the commission' and 'consultation with the opposition'—ended than they made 'dismantling the commission' official," calling it a "backroom rush job."
There are also criticisms that appointing the nominee as the new chief while dismantling the commission is "nonsense." A People Power Party official said, "It is questionable whether a new Financial Services Commission chair is needed now, when things are unsettled as the organization moves toward dismantlement," adding, "We do not need a 'demolition foreman' or a '10-day Minister.'"
After being appointed as Financial Services Commission chair, the nominee is said to be highly likely to serve as the inaugural Financial Supervisory Commission chair. Lee Chang-gyu, director general for organization at the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, said at a briefing announcing the reorganization plan, "The nominee for Financial Services Commission chair underwent a confirmation hearing at the National Assembly. If it is reorganized into the Financial Supervisory Commission, we plan to stipulate in the supplementary provisions of the Government Organization Act that it will be deemed that the (Financial Supervisory Commission chair) has undergone a confirmation hearing."