Korean Parliament fails to act on confirmation bill for Supreme Court chief

Rival parties failed to convene a scheduled parliamentary session Friday after a procedural dispute over the confirmation bills for the nominees for South Korea's Supreme Court chief justice and a Constitutional Court justice. Ruling and opposition parties had agreed to act on confirmation bills for two nominees -- Yang Seun-tae for Supreme Court chief justice and Cho Yong-whan for Constitutional Court judge -- in a regular session scheduled early Friday. But the meeting was not held as scheduled over differences on how to handle the bills. A confirmation hearing for Yang was held earlier this week. Though a hearing for Cho was held in June, his confirmation has since been delayed as the ruling Grand National Party (GNP) took issue with his ideological stance and false address registration. The confirmation bill needs a majority approval vote at the National Assembly to pass.