'7.5-Month Gap' Broadcast Communications Review Committee, Solution for Late Launch [Cha Min-young's Post-it]

Delayed Launch of the 5th Committee
Gaps in Digital Sex Crime, Broadcasting, and Communication Review
Calls for Legal and Institutional Reform Inside and Outside the Organization
Research Report from the National Assembly Legislative Research Office Released

Jeong Yeon-ju, Chairperson of the 5th Broadcasting and Communications Review Committee. Photo by Bangtongsimwi

[Asia Economy Reporter Minyoung Cha] #. With the advent of the digital era, the importance of the Korea Communications Standards Commission (KCSC), which reviews and decides on matters related to digital sex crimes as well as illegal and harmful information on the internet and broadcasting, has increased. However, the KCSC, now in its 5th term, is not free from recurring controversies over its 'delayed launch.' This is why voices both inside and outside the organization call for fundamental problem-solving through legal and institutional reforms.

The KCSC, an independent civilian organization, reviews politically sensitive broadcasting-related issues, which leads to intense political disputes between ruling and opposition parties over the committee's composition. The committee consists of an administrative support organization centered around nine commissioners serving three-year terms. The 4th term ended at the end of January this year, necessitating the formation of the 5th term committee. However, the opposition party did not disclose its recommended commissioners.

The delayed launch of the 5th term committee caused a review backlog of 9,619 broadcasting cases, 154,336 telecommunications cases, and 8,921 digital sex crime information cases during the vacancy period. The 3rd and 4th term committees also launched after delays of one month and seven months, respectively. Particularly, since early response is crucial for digital sex crimes, concerns were raised that this could lead to another 'Second Nth Room' incident.

Voices calling for legal and institutional reforms have also emerged within the organization. In March, Kyungjoong Min, Secretary-General of the KCSC, held a press briefing urging the prompt launch of the 5th term committee and expressed related concerns. Secretary-General Min stated, "We must supplement the shortcomings regarding the work gap that may occur until the next commissioners are appointed to ensure continuity in reviews. We earnestly ask the National Assembly and relevant ministries to expedite the necessary legal amendments and revisions."

Recently, a related research report was also released by the National Assembly. Yeora Kim, Legislative Research Officer of the Science, Broadcasting, and Communications Team at the National Assembly Legislative Research Office, said, "As the formation of the three-year term review committee continues to be delayed and concerns about viewer and user damages due to review gaps increase, opinions calling for legal amendments have emerged," adding, "It is necessary to explore improvement measures."

In the research report, Officer Kim expressed concerns that "(If formation is delayed) in the case of broadcasting reviews, securing public interest and publicness for viewer rights becomes difficult, and in telecommunications reviews, responding to blocking illegal and harmful information on information and communication networks becomes challenging," and "It is difficult to respond to digital sex crimes that require swift and accurate measures such as victim protection and relief."

As methods to prevent work gaps, two directions for amending the "Act on the Establishment and Operation of the Korea Communications Commission (KCC Establishment Act)" were proposed. The first option is to include a clause in the KCC Establishment Act stating that "a commissioner whose term has expired shall continue to perform duties until a successor is appointed." The second option is that a by-election commissioner appointed to fill a vacancy continues their term even after completing the predecessor's remaining term.

There were also calls to ensure diversity and expertise among commissioners. The Legislative Research Office pointed out, "It is necessary to secure expertise and diversity that can understand and represent various perspectives of society, including children and adolescents, women, the elderly, people with disabilities, as well as various regions, generations, beliefs, and races, not only expertise in broadcasting and telecommunications." This is because the KCSC only has provisions excluding commissioners with political or work-related conflicts of interest. It was also proposed to legally define commissioner qualifications.

Discussions on increasing the number of commissioners were also deemed necessary. Currently, the commission consists of nine members, including the chairperson. It has four subcommittees for broadcasting, advertising, telecommunications, and digital sex crimes, handling over 1,000 broadcasting reviews and more than 200,000 telecommunications reviews annually. It was explained that manpower reinforcement is necessary for thorough reviews.

However, the Legislative Research Office judged that careful consideration is needed regarding the introduction of a confirmation hearing for the KCSC chairperson. This was a rebuttal to claims that "the current commissioner appointment method makes it difficult to guarantee review accountability and neutrality, as well as the publicness and fairness of broadcasting, so a confirmation hearing by the National Assembly should be conducted."

Researcher Kim said, "The review committee is an independent civilian organization, and the authority to impose sanctions on review decisions lies with the KCC. The National Assembly already conducts confirmation hearings for the KCC chairperson," adding, "There are opinions that additional confirmation hearing procedures may not be desirable, so it is necessary to approach this cautiously with further discussion."

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