In the National Assembly Science and ICT Committee, a dispute over 'Kim Eo-jun's appearance fee'... "Let's request the Board of Audit and Inspection to audit TBS"

[Asia Economy Reporter Seulgina Jo] At the full meeting of the National Assembly's Science, Technology, Information and Broadcasting and Communications Committee, a dispute arose between the ruling and opposition parties over the controversy surrounding TBS (Traffic Broadcasting) program host Kim Eo-jun's appearance fees. There were also calls, mainly from the opposition, for an audit at the committee level.

On the afternoon of the 22nd, Park Dae-chul, a member of the People Power Party, stated at the full meeting, "If Kim receives appearance fees without signing a contract at a public broadcaster funded with 40 billion won from the Seoul city budget, it is a problem," adding, "The committee should request an audit from the Board of Audit and Inspection to verify whether the TBS budget was used appropriately." He also claimed, "'News Factory,' hosted by Kim, is an excessively partisan broadcast."

In response, Woo Sang-ho, a member of the Democratic Party, defended Kim, saying, "While the opposition's attacks on Kim's bias may be a part of election strategy, it is inappropriate to use the National Assembly as a tool to target a specific host." He pointed out, "If this continues, we will also attack hosts or guests who make unfavorable remarks on various general programming channels, and then the standing committee could turn into a proxy battle for broadcasting. Continuously targeting a specific individual does not look good."

Then, Jeong Hee-yong, a member of the People Power Party, retorted, "This is not about targeting," and said, "In Kim's case, he reportedly signed a contract with SBS. This is not about bias but about the practice of contracts and fairness, which the public is also interested in, so it would be good if the standing committee could reach a consensus on this."

Jo Seung-rae, the Democratic Party's secretary, mediated, saying, "While it is clear that matters involving tax money should be scrutinized, there may be differing opinions on whether this is the responsibility of the National Assembly or the Seoul Metropolitan Council," and added, "We will discuss Park's proposal among the secretaries."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.