On March 25, NARS held a ceremony to commemorate the 12th anniversary of its establishment. The ceremony was held at the NARS Main Conference Hall.
Key figures including National Assembly Speaker Moon Hee-sang, Bareunmirae Party's Representative Kim Kwan-young, Representative of Party for Democracy and Peace Chang Byoung-wan, Congressmen Cho Jeong-sik, Kim Joong-ro, Hwang Ju-hong and Secretary-General Yoo Ihn-tae, as well as all personnel of NARS attended the ceremony. The event began with a video commemorating the 12th anniversary and was followed by remarks from NARS chief Kim Ha-joong. Certificates of commendations were then presented by the speaker along with his congratulatory remarks.
In his speech, Dr. Kim Ha-joong, Chief of NARS, said, "NARS achieved quantitative and qualitative growth as the number of its members doubled and the number of responses to legislative requests grew 30 times compared to the initial stage of its establishment. We will continuously strive to meet the needs of congressmen and the people and to support the National Assembly to do its best by seeking mid- and long-term development strategy for its vigorous leap."
NARS was established in 2007 with the mandate to reinforce the National Assembly's capacities to develop legislation, policymaking, and professionalism. Since its establishment until 2017, NARS had held the commemoration ceremony on November 6—the day work actually commences—but later changed the date to March 25—the effective date of the NARS Act—following the lead of other National Assembly organizations. Over the past twelve years, NARS has become a powerful think tank supporting legislation and policymaking through its legislative research service, as evidenced by its publication of 2,500 reports and response to 61,800 requests. With the appointment of its seventh chief, NARS looks to build continually its capacities in order to make a further leap forward as one of the preeminent comprehensive legislative think tanks in the world.
