Speaker

The constitution stipulates that the assembly is presided over by a Speaker and two Deputy Speakers,^[2] who are responsible for expediting the legislative process. The Speaker and Deputy Speakers are elected in a secret ballot by the members of the Assembly, and their term in office is restricted to two years.^[3] The Speaker is independent of party affiliation, and the Speaker and Deputy Speakers may not simultaneously be government ministers.^[3]

Negotiation groups

Parties that hold at least 20 seats in the assembly form floor negotiation groups (Korean: 교섭단체, Hanja: 交涉團體, RR: gyoseop danche), which are entitled to a variety of rights that are denied to smaller parties. These include a greater amount of state funding and participation in the leaders' summits that determine the assembly's legislative agenda.^[4]

In order to meet the quorum, the United Liberal Democrats, who then held 17 seats, arranged to "rent" three legislators from the Millennium Democratic Party. The legislators returned to the MDP after the collapse of the ULD-MDP coalition in September 2001.^[5]

Legislative process

To introduce a bill, a legislator must present the initiative to the Speaker with the signatures of at least ten other members of the assembly. The bill must then be edited by a committee to ensure that the bill contains correct and systematic language. It can then be approved or rejected by the Assembly.^[6]

Committees

There are 17 standing committees which examine bills and petitions falling under their respective jurisdictions, and perform other duties as prescribed by relevant laws.^[7]

• House Steering Committee
• Legislation and Judiciary Committee
• National Policy Committee
• Strategy and Finance Committee
• Science, ICT, Future Planning, Broadcasting and Communications Committee
• Education Committee
• Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee
• Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee
• National Defense Committee
• Security and Public Administration Committee
• Agriculture, Food, Rural Affairs, Oceans and Fisheries Committee
• Trade, Industry and Energy Committee
• Health and Welfare Committee
• Environment and Labor Committee
• Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee
• Intelligence Committee
• Gender Equality and Family Committee

Election

The National Assembly has 300 seats, with 253 constituency seats under FPTP and 47 proportional representation seats. With electoral reform taken in 2019, the PR seats apportionment method was replaced by a variation of additional member system from previous parallel voting system, although 17 seats were temporarily assigned under parallel voting in the 2020 South Korean legislative election.^[8]

As per Article 189 of Public Official Election Act,^[9][10] the PR seats are awarded to parties that have either obtained at least 3% of the total valid votes in the legislative election or at least 5 constituency seats. The number of seats allocated to each eligible party are decided by following formula:

$${\displaystyle n_{\text{initial))=\left\lfloor {\frac {(n_{\text{Assembly))-n_{\text{ineligibles)))\times {\text{PR votes ratio))-n_{\text{obtained constituencies))+1}{2))\right\rfloor }$$

where

• n_Assembly = total number of seats in the National Assembly.
• n_ineligibles = number of seats obtained by ineligible parties and independents.
• n_{obtained constituencies} = number of constituency seats obtained by the party.
• n_ams = total number of seats allocated for additional member system.

If the integer is less than 1, then n_initial is set to 0 and the party does not get any seats. Then the sum of initially allocated seats are compared to total seats for additional member system, and recalculated.

$${\displaystyle n_{\text{remainder))=\left(n_{\text{ams))-\sum n_{\text{initial))\right)\times {\text{PR votes ratio))}$$

$${\displaystyle n_{\text{final))={\begin{cases}n_{\text{initial))+n_{\text{remainder)),&{\text{if ))\sum n_{\text{initial))<n_{\text{ams))\\n_{\text{ams))\times {\dfrac {n_{\text{initial))}{\sum n_{\text{initial)))),&{\text{if ))\sum n_{\text{initial))>n_{\text{ams))\end{cases))}$$

Final seats are assigned through the largest remainder method, and if the remainder is equal, the winner is determined by lottery among the relevant political parties.

The voting age was also lowered from 19 to 18 years old, expanding the electorate by over half a million voters.^[11]

From 2004 to 2009, the assembly gained notoriety as a frequent site for legislative violence.^[12] The Assembly first came to the world's attention during a violent dispute on impeachment proceedings for then President Roh Moo-hyun,^[13][14] when open physical combat took place in the assembly. Since then, it has been interrupted by periodic conflagrations, piquing the world's curiosity once again in 2009 when members battled each other with sledgehammers and fire extinguishers. The National Assembly since then have preventive measures to prevent any more legislative violence.^[15][16][17]

First Republic

Elections for the assembly were held under UN supervision^[18] on 10 May 1948. The First Republic of Korea was established on 17 July 1948^[19] 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.

Under the first constitution, the National Assembly was unicameral. Under the second and third constitutions, the National Assembly was to be bicameral and consist of the House of Representatives and the House of Councillors, but in practice the legislature was unicameral because the House of Representatives was prevented from passing the law necessary to establish the House of Councillors.

  Conservative   Liberal   Progressive

  majority   plurality only   largest minority

Second Republic

Third Republic

Since the reopening of the National Assembly in 1963 until today, it has been unicameral.

Fourth Republic

Fifth Republic

Sixth Republic

  majority   plurality   largest minority

• List of members of the South Korean Constituent Assembly
• List of members of the National Assembly (South Korea), 1950–1954
• List of members of the National Assembly (South Korea), 1954–1958
• List of members of the National Assembly (South Korea), 1981–1985
• List of members of the National Assembly (South Korea), 1985–1988
• List of members of the National Assembly (South Korea), 1988–1992
• List of members of the National Assembly (South Korea), 1992–1996
• List of members of the National Assembly (South Korea), 1996–2000
• List of members of the National Assembly (South Korea), 2000–2004
• List of members of the National Assembly (South Korea), 2004–2008
• List of members of the National Assembly (South Korea), 2008–2012
• List of members of the National Assembly (South Korea), 2012–2016
• List of members of the National Assembly (South Korea), 2016–2020
• List of members of the National Assembly (South Korea), 2020–2024

• 

  Emblem of the National Assembly (1947–2014)

• 

  Flag of the National Assembly (1947–2014)

• 

  Flag of the National Assembly (from 2014)

• List of political parties in South Korea
• Politics of South Korea
• National Assembly TV
• Supreme People's Assembly, the North Korean legislature
• 2019 South Korean Capitol attack

• U.S. Library of Congress Country Studies