South Korea parliament elects new speaker

ANKARA

South Korean parliament on Monday elected a senior lawmaker of the main opposition party Kim Jin-pyo as a new speaker of the National Assembly ending a month-long deadlock between ruling and opposition parties, local media said.

The election came after the two sides agreed to constitute the parliament's committees to put the parliament into operation, Yonhap News Agency reported.

Kim a five-term lawmaker will serve as speaker until May 2024.

The National Assembly also elected Two vice speakers, Kim Young-joo of the of the main opposition Democratic Party (DP) and Chung Jin-suk of the ruling People Power Party (PPP).

Currently, the opposition DP party enjoys the majority in the parliament with 170 members out of 299 seats.

* Writing by Islamuddin Sajid