Park Sung-joong: "The ruling party, stop parliamentary dictatorship to protect Kim Eo-jun"... Conflict escalates in the Science and ICT Committee

Seongjung Park, member of the People Power Party

[Asia Economy Reporter Eunmo Koo] The conflict between ruling and opposition members of the National Assembly’s Science, Technology, Information and Broadcasting Communications Committee (STIBC) over the submission of a motion requesting an audit of Traffic Broadcasting System (TBS) by the Board of Audit and Inspection (BAI) appears to be deepening.

On the 21st, Cho Seung-rae, the Democratic Party’s floor leader in the STIBC, issued a statement demanding the normal convening of the Bill Subcommittee 2, chaired by the opposition floor leader, saying, “The Bill Subcommittee 2, chaired by the opposition floor leader, nullified even the agreed agenda.” In response, Park Sung-joong, the People Power Party’s floor leader, countered by calling to stop the parliamentary dictatorship protecting Kim Eo-jun and demanded Cho’s resignation.

On the same day, Park Sung-joong stated, “The Democratic Party unilaterally rejected the submission of the ‘Motion to Request a BAI Audit of TBS,’ which was a precondition for agreeing on the STIBC schedule in June, causing the schedule agreement to collapse and forcing the plenary session to proceed. They continue to practice ‘parliamentary dictatorship’ by ignoring the demands of the main opposition party and blocking even the submission of the agenda to protect Kim Eo-jun, the chief defender of the Moon administration who blocks the ears of Seoul citizens with politically biased and distorted broadcasts.”

Earlier, the People Power Party pointed out that TBS, operated with over 40 billion won of Seoul citizens’ taxes, paid more than 2.3 billion won in appearance fees over five years to Kim Eo-jun, the host of “News Factory,” without a contract, and repeatedly requested a BAI audit of TBS’s budget execution.

Additionally, Park accused Cho of spreading false information that Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon refused the TBS audit by distorting his remarks. Park said, “The reason the People Power Party requested the BAI audit of TBS is because citizens’ taxes are involved, making it subject to BAI audit. Also, the regular audit period of Seoul City has not yet arrived, and entrusting the TBS audit to the Seoul City Council, which is controlled by the Democratic Party by more than 90%, is no different from ‘entrusting a fish shop to a cat.’”

He added, “The Democratic Party should cooperate by agreeing to submit the ‘Motion to Request a BAI Audit of TBS’ so that the STIBC schedule can proceed normally, and Cho Seung-rae, who repeatedly insulted his fellow lawmakers by calling them ‘hyenas,’ should apologize and immediately resign from his position as floor leader of the STIBC.”

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