Seoul: The National Assembly adopted a confirmation hearing report for the country's spy agency chief nominee Monday, marking the first such approval since President Lee Jae Myung took office early this month.
According to Yonhap News Agency, the approval came after the parliamentary intelligence committee held a confirmation hearing for Lee Jong-seok, the nominee for National Intelligence Service (NIS) director, last Thursday. Lee, who served as principal deputy national security adviser from 2003 to 2005 and unification minister in 2006, was nominated as the NIS chief under President Lee, who has pledged to suspend hostilities and resume dialogue with North Korea to ease military tensions and build peace.
The ruling Democratic Party defended the nominee's expertise on North Korean and security issues, while lawmakers of the main opposition People Power Party (PPP) accused him of having a policy stance that is too lenient and submissive toward North Korea. The committee had initially sought to adopt the report during a plenary session Friday but failed due to objections from the PPP.