The Intelligence Committee of the National Assembly will hold a confirmation hearing for Lee Jong-seok, nominee for director of the National Intelligence Service, on the 19th.
The Intelligence Committee held a plenary meeting on the 12th and adopted a plan to conduct the confirmation hearing. A plenary meeting to adopt the report on the progress of the confirmation hearing is also scheduled for the following day, the 20th.
The nominee is regarded as a leading expert on Korean Peninsula issues, having conducted research at the Sejong Institute on North Korea, inter-Korean and Sino-North Korean relations, and the Northeast Asian situation.
During the participatory government era, Lee served as a member of the presidential transition committee, Minister of Unification, and chairman of the standing committee of the National Security Council (NSC). After returning to the Sejong Institute in 2006, Lee has been active as a senior research fellow while also serving as a visiting professor at Peking University in China and a chaired professor at Yonsei University.
The Intelligence Committee plans to focus on examining the nominee's expertise, policy direction, and qualifications as the director of the National Intelligence Service.