President Lee Jae Myung approved the appointments of new Unification Minister Chung Dong-young, Defense Minister Ahn Gyu-back and Veterans Affairs Minister Kwon Oh-eul on Friday.

It marks the first time the Lee administration has approved Cabinet appointments without receiving their confirmation hearing reports from the National Assembly.

On Tuesday, President Lee asked lawmakers to forward the reports for the three ministers by Thursday.

By law, if the Assembly fails to adopt a personnel hearing report by the initial deadline, the president can ask for it to be filed within a period of up to 10 days.

So far, the appointments of 14 of President Lee’s 18 ministerial nominees have been completed.

Confirmation hearings for nominees to lead the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport will be held on July 29, while the search continues for new candidates to head the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family.