Discussion on Media and Prosecution Reform at Democratic Party Meeting... "We Will Have a Final Debate at Next Week's Meeting"

Consultation on Improving the Governance Structure of Public Broadcasting

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jun-yi] The Democratic Party of Korea held a party caucus on the 5th and began internal discussions on passing bills related to prosecutorial reform and media reform. The party plans to hold another caucus next week to finalize the party stance.

Oh Young-hwan, the floor spokesperson, met with reporters after the caucus on the afternoon of the 5th and responded to questions about discussions on prosecutorial reform by saying, "There was an opinion that when removing investigative authority provisions from the Prosecutors' Office Act and the Special Civil Litigation Act, concerns about the concentration of power in the police and the police's excessive expansion should also be addressed." He added, "Floor leader Park Hong-geun said that continuous meetings will be held throughout this week to exchange and collect opinions, and if necessary, a thorough debate will be held at next week's caucus to have sufficient time to organize opinions."

When asked if anyone said it must be done immediately, he replied, "Regarding the timing, it was said that additional discussions and debate time will be taken."

Regarding media reform, he said, "The discussion on the Media Arbitration Act was not held today," and added, "It is a part that requires more time and discussion going forward."

The Democratic Party plans to hold the next caucus on the 12th to decide the party stance. Spokesperson Oh explained, "Starting tomorrow, individual members may approach the standing committees, such as the Judiciary Committee for prosecutorial reform, and members who strongly demand or are interested in prosecutorial reform may come. Whether by player or group, the intention is to contact as many people as possible according to their wishes."

It was reported that the Democratic Party discussed measures to improve the governance structure of public broadcasting on the same day. After the caucus, Spokesperson Oh said, "Regarding the composition and operation of the board of directors, to ensure political neutrality, we are considering removing party recommendations and presidential recommendations, and are thinking in the direction of a National Recommendation Committee or a Public Broadcasting Management Committee. Nothing has been decided yet; we are considering about two options and judging that these are parts that can be negotiated with the other side (People Power Party)."

He continued, "We are also considering ways to establish punishment for false and manipulated information or the right to request deletion under the Information and Communications Network Act for effective and prompt relief of damages caused by false information and infringement of rights, as well as establishing a right to rebut inaccurate and unfair methods," and added, "We will activate the Media Special Committee as soon as possible to deliberate and organize our party's position. This was a report on that."

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