Yoon appoints new Supreme Court chief justice

President Yoon Suk Yeol, left, shakes hands with Cho Hee-dae at the presidential office in Seoul, Dec. 8, during a ceremony to present him with a letter of appointment as the new Supreme Court chief justice. Courtesy of presidential office

President Yoon Suk Yeol appointed the new head of the Supreme Court, Friday, ending more than two months of a leadership vacuum at the country's top court.

Yoon presented Cho Hee-dae, a former Supreme Court justice, with a letter of appointment in a ceremony at the presidential office in Seoul, hours after the National Assembly approved Cho's nomination.

The motion to approve Cho's nomination passed the Assembly in a 264-18 vote with ten abstentions.

Cho was widely expected to smoothly pass the vote, as a parliamentary confirmation hearing report concluded the nominee was fit for the job, given Cho had barely any irregularities and shared a clear vision on judiciary reform.

The country's top court had suffered a leadership vacuum for the past 74 days, since the former chief justice, Kim Myeong-su, finished his tenure, Sept. 24, and the opposition-controlled Assembly rejected the appointment of President Yoon Suk Yeol's first nominee, Lee Gyun-ryong. (Yonhap)