Court dismisses Han Sang-hyeok's 'suspension of dismissal'... "Continuing duties may undermine KCC's trust"

Former Chairman of the Korea Communications Commission (KCC) Han Sang-hyuk's request for a suspension of execution, filed with the court in objection to his dismissal, was dismissed. This means that the dismissal of former Chairman Han, approved by President Yoon Seok-yeol, is valid.

On the 23rd, the Administrative Division 1 of the Seoul Administrative Court (Chief Judge Kang Dong-hyuk) rejected former Chairman Han's request for suspension of execution against President Yoon regarding the dismissal.

Hansanghyuk, Former Chairman of the Korea Communications Commission / Photo by Dongju Yoon doso7@

The court stated, "Under the involvement of KCC officials who were under the command and supervision of former Chairman Han, the evaluation scores for the TV Chosun re-approval review were altered," and "In the original evaluation results, TV Chosun had scored over 650 points with no failing marks in key review areas, but after the alteration, failing marks appeared, affecting the re-approval decision and validity period, significantly undermining the fairness of the re-approval review."

Furthermore, "Based on the submitted materials, it is reasonable to conclude that the score was recognized as having been modified afterward," and "Nevertheless, former Chairman Han made no effort to investigate the facts or circumstances. Rather, he instructed to proceed with the hearing process for TV Chosun based on the altered results that included failing marks, and directed the full KCC meeting to place the conditional re-approval agenda with a validity period of three years on the table," the court pointed out.

The court emphasized, "With former Chairman Han and his staff being indicted for related acts, the KCC faced difficulties in performing its normal duties. Moreover, serious damage was caused to social trust and the public interest regarding the KCC’s deliberation and resolution processes and outcomes, which must guarantee fairness, objectivity, and transparency."

Additionally, "Allowing former Chairman Han to perform the duties of the KCC chairman would pose a concrete risk of undermining not only social trust in the KCC’s deliberation and resolution processes and outcomes but also the fairness of public service execution and the public’s trust in it, potentially causing significant harm to the public welfare," the court added.

Former Chairman Han was indicted without detention on the 2nd of last month on charges of appointing a civic group member who had opposed TV Chosun as a review committee member on March 11, 2020, and knowingly allowing the manipulation of TV Chosun’s evaluation scores in April of the same year.

In response, the government proceeded with the dismissal process against former Chairman Han, citing violations of the "Act on the Establishment and Operation of the Korea Communications Commission" (KCC Act) and the National Public Service Act.

Accordingly, President Yoon approved the dismissal of former Chairman Han on the 30th of last month. On the 1st, former Chairman Han filed a cancellation lawsuit against the dismissal and simultaneously submitted a request for suspension of execution.

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