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Lee Han-dong Approved as Prime Minister of South Korea
The South Korean National Assembly, the country's parliament, Thursday afternoon approved President Kim Dae-jung's appointment of Lee Han-dong as prime minister.
The 273-member parliament ratified the appointment with 139 voting for the appointment, 130 against, two abstentions and one invalid.
Attending the vote were all 119 lawmakers of the ruling Millennium Democratic Party, 133 from the Grand National Party (GNP), 17 from the United Liberal Democrats (ULD) and three independents.
Of the total 273 lawmakers, Chung Mong-joon was the only one who failed to appear at the vote. Chung, president of the Korea Football Association, is on a business trip to attend a meeting of Federation of International Football Association.
The balloting was held just after the plenary session of the National Assembly heard the report on the outcome of the first-ever parliamentary confirmation hearing for the prime minister.
At the voting session, the main opposition GNP reaffirmed its opposition to Lee's appointment, citing suspicions of alleged real estate speculation and sensitive political issues.
President Kim nominated Lee as prime minister on May 22 this year after Park Ta-jung resigned over a tax evasion scandal.
Lee, the 66-year-old president of the ULD, is a six-term lawmaker who started his political career with the now-defunct Democratic Justice Party (DJP), established by then President Chun Du-hwan in 1981.
A graduate of the law school of Seoul National University, Lee worked as judge, prosecutor and lawyer before entering the political circle.
Lee served as secretary general, chief policy-maker and floor leader of the DJP, minister of home affairs and chairman of the GNP before he quit from the GNP to join the ULD last January.
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