Jin Joong-kwon Criticizes Ruling Party for Forcing Media Arbitration Act: "Tired of Activist Taliban's Legislative Dictatorship"

Former Dongyang University Professor Jin Joong-kwon. [Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Heo Midam] As the ruling party forcibly passed the amendment to the Media Arbitration Act, on the 19th, former Dongyang University professor Jin Joong-kwon sharply criticized, saying, "The anti-liberal legislative dictatorship of the activist Taliban is tiresome."

On the same day, Jin posted on his Facebook, "The Justice Party, the People’s Party, and the People Power Party must unite and fight alongside civil society, including filibuster and other parliamentary struggle strategies," he said. In another post, he also criticized, "Old habits die hard."

Earlier, the amendment to the Media Arbitration Act, which applies punitive damages to media companies, passed the full meeting of the National Assembly’s Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee on the same day.

The Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee held a full meeting in the afternoon and submitted the "Partial Amendment to the Act on Media Arbitration and Damage Relief" as a committee alternative and passed it. The amendment passed with 9 votes in favor out of 16 members. Eight members of the Democratic Party and Kim Ui-gyeom of the Open Democratic Party voted in favor.

The amendment mainly allows claiming up to five times punitive damages for false or fabricated reports by media companies. Although the purpose is to protect victims from malicious fake news, opposition parties have raised strong concerns, calling it "gagging the media that infringes on freedom of expression."

Regarding this, Jeon Ju-hye, the floor spokesperson for the People Power Party, criticized in a statement, "Despite the strong opposition from the People Power Party, the Democratic Party forcibly held a full meeting of the Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee and passed the Media Arbitration Act by standing vote," adding, "They arbitrarily manipulated the legal wording to annihilate and control the media, thoroughly ignoring the opposition’s opinions."

Meanwhile, the amendment to the Media Arbitration Act is expected to go through the full meeting of the National Assembly’s Legislation and Judiciary Committee next week and be submitted to the plenary session of the National Assembly as early as the 25th.

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