Constitutional Court chief nominee Lee Jin-sung took the stand at a parliamentary confirmation hearing Wednesday, with opposition parties honing in on his views on national security and a controversy surrounding the term of the chief of the court.

Lee is the second Constitutional Court nominee to undergo the confirmation hearing process since President Moon Jae-in took office in May. Moon had initially nominated Constitutional Court Justice Kim Yi-su, who was rejected by the parliament, resulting in the seat remaining vacant for 10 months. 


Unlike heads of government ministries, the chief of the Constitutional Court must be approved by the National Assembly.

Asked of his views on the controversial National Security Act, which has been abused by past dictatorial administrations against dissenters, Lee said the act should not be abolished.

“Looking at the act on the whole, (the act) should not be abolished but (maintained) while preventing abuses,” Lee said, adding that certain clauses of the act should be removed.

Saying the act was introduced “with the security of the country as the priority,” Lee added that while the act had been abused in the past, a revision is preferable to abolishing the act.

Due to past administrations’ abuse of the act, the progressive bloc has long called for its abolishment, labeling the act unconstitutional.

The matter of his term, if approved for the post, was also raised by lawmakers, to which Lee said he hoped he would be the last Constitutional Court chief nominee to be affected by the issue.

The Constitutional Court chief’s term is a contested issue due to ambiguity in related laws, which state the chief of the court has a term of six years. However, the laws do not clarify whether a new chief serves six years from the point of taking the higher office or if the term ends when the new chief’s term as a Constitutional Court justice ends. In the case of Lee, he has nine months left in his term as a justice of the court.

By Choi He-suk (cheesuk@heraldcorp.com)