The rival political parties had starkly different reactions to the appointments by President Yoon Suk Yeol of the prosecutor general and state antitrust agency chief without parliamentary approval on Friday.

Following the appointment announcement, ruling People Power Party(PPP) chief spokesperson Park Jeong-ha accused the opposition of intentionally delaying the adoption of the nominees' hearing reports, saying the public would bear the brunt of a prolonged vacuum.

Main opposition Democratic Party(DP) floor spokesperson Lee Soo-jin accused the president of neglecting concerns over the administration's personnel failures and stubbornly packing key positions with prosecutors.

Parliamentary confirmation hearings for the newly appointed Prosecutor General Lee Won-seok and Fair Trade Commission(FTC) Chairman Han Ki-jeong had wrapped up early this month, but the adoption of their hearing reports had stalled amid partisan divide.

Yoon went ahead with the two appointments earlier in the day after his request to parliament for report submissions by Thursday went unanswered.

Lee and Han are the 12th and 13th high-level officials under the Yoon administration to be appointed without parliamentary approval.