Korea's acting president vetoes bill limiting authority to nominate constitutional court justices

Acting President and Prime Minister Han Duck-soo on Tuesday vetoed a bill that sought to limit an acting president’s authority to nominate justices on the Constitutional Court directly. During the Cabinet meeting, Han said he was sending back the bill that sought to amend the Constitutional Court Act, which had been proposed by the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea and passed in a National Assembly plenary session on April 17. "The amendment contains elements that conflict with existing constitutional provisions, and thus, the government concluded that a request for reconsideration was unavoidable,” Han said during the Cabinet meeting. Han argued the proposed amendment bill, which would curb the scope of an acting president’s authority — including banning acting presidents from directly nominating three of the nine Constitutional Court justices — contrasts with Article 71 of the Constitution, which he said does not impose any separate restrictions on an acting president’s duties.
Read the full article here: The Korea Herald