President approves financial services and fair trade commissioners' appointments

President Lee Jae Myung approved the appointments of Lee Eok-won as chairman of the Financial Services Commission and Ju Biung-ghi as chairman of the Fair Trade Commission on Friday, the presidential office said Saturday.

Chairman of Financial Supervisory Commission Lee Eok-won on Sept. 2. [YONHAP]

President Lee Jae Myung approved the appointments of Lee Eok-won as chairman of the Financial Services Commission and Ju Biung-ghi as chairman of the Fair Trade Commission on Friday, the presidential office said Saturday.

A presidential office official told Yonhap on Saturday that the "president approved the appointments on Friday" as the National Assembly failed to send a report on the personnel hearing past the resubmission deadline on Thursday.

The Assembly’s hearings for the nominees concluded on Monday, but lawmakers did not adopt their reports, prompting Lee to reiterate his request that the documents be sent by Thursday

Under the law on confirmation hearings, if the Assembly does not adopt a report by the deadline, the president may set a new deadline within 10 days and request that the report be resent. If the legislature still fails to comply, the president may proceed with the appointment.

Earlier on Thursday, presidential spokesperson Kang Yu-jung told reporters that “both nominees were sufficiently vetted on their qualifications and capabilities in their respective fields through the hearings,” adding that despite the government’s renewed request to avoid a vacuum in state affairs, “the National Assembly is refusing to adopt and send the reports.”

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom. BY SHIN HYE-YEON [cho.yongjun1@joongang.co.kr]