3 Constitutional Court Just Filling Vacancies...By the 22nd, the ruling and opposition parties will be recommended.

3 vacancies out of 9 constitutional judges...Six-person system
for more than one monthI don't recommend candidates due to differences between the ruling and opposition parties..."Closed operation"
We will recommend 3 people by the 22nd..."Appointment within the regular session of the National Assembly"
A war of nerves over the division of the ruling and opposition parties...Continuing behind-the-scenes negotiations

[Anchor]
The ruling and opposition parties have agreed to recommend three candidates for the Constitutional Court, who have been vacant for more than a month, by the 22nd.

It is still parallel to the recommendation of a special inspector candidate demanded by the ruling party and the parliamentary investigation into the death of a corporal while being pushed by the opposition party.

I'm reporter Na Hye-in.

[Reporter]
After three judges, including former Constitutional Court President Lee Jong-seok, retired on the 17th of last month due to the expiration of their terms, the Constitutional Court has been operating under a "six-member system."

The vacancy is being neglected because the ruling and opposition parties have not reached an agreement in the National Assembly, which should recommend a replacement candidate.

The Constitutional Court is continuing its work by establishing an acting director and suspending the effect of the Constitutional Court Act, which allows at least seven judges to hear the case.

[Kim Hyung-doo / Constitutional Court Judge (12th): Three people are to be recommended, but not doing that means that the National Assembly is not functioning properly. Does the National Assembly mean that the Constitutional Court should not work?]

The ruling and opposition parties, which had only been engaged in a war of nerves for a month, began to find an agreement only after being criticized by the judge.

The floor leaders of the two major parties met under the chairmanship of the National Assembly and agreed to recommend candidates for judges by the 22nd.

[Park Chan-dae / Floor Leader of the Democratic Party of Korea: We will finalize our recommendations by November 22 and appoint them by the regular session of the National Assembly....]

However, it did not completely turn off the possibility of conflict, saying that the ruling and opposition parties should discuss how many more of the three vacancies will be recommended.

[Choo Kyung-ho / People's Power Floor Leader: The two parties still need to talk more about which number and number to recommend....]

The Democratic Party, which believes that the number of progressive constitutional judges has been decreasing since the inauguration of the Yoon Suk Yeol government, argues that two out of three should be recommended by the opposition party depending on the number of seats in the National Assembly.

On the other hand, the power of the people is recommended by the ruling and opposition parties one by one, and the other is in a position to agree, but in the end, it seems to be a struggle to appoint at least one more judge who is in line with his faction.

The ruling and opposition parties failed to narrow their differences over pending issues such as the recommendation of a candidate for a special inspector to inspect the president's relatives and the parliamentary investigation into the death of Chae Sang-byung.

[Choo Kyung-ho / People's Power Floor Leader: We can't agree on the need for a parliamentary investigation because the hearings and parliamentary audits were conducted in a dense manner....]

[Park Chan-dae / Minjoo Party floor leader: We can't help but do something about the president's rejection of the special prosecution, right? So in accordance with the will of the people....]

The ruling and opposition parties decided to hold two more plenary sessions to deal with the budget bill before the regular session ends on the 10th of next month.

In the 22nd National Assembly, the Special Committee on Climate Crisis and Pension Reform, which has not yet been established, and the Special Committee on Ethics have also decided to launch them.

I'm Na Hye-in from YTN.

Photographer: Lee Sang-chang
Video editing: Yang Young-woon