Gominjeong: "Idonggwan gave only a 'one-line answer' to the written inquiry... How can the hearing proceed?"

As the confirmation hearing for Lee Dong-kwan, nominee for chairman of the Korea Communications Commission, is held on the 18th, Go Min-jeong, a member of the National Assembly's Science, ICT, Broadcasting and Communications Committee and a confirmation hearing member from the Democratic Party of Korea, expressed concerns about a perfunctory hearing, saying, "(Lee's side) is not responding to any requests for materials or answers."

On the 18th, Go said on BBS's 'Jeon Young-shin's Morning Journal,' "When we ask lengthy questions, we get one-line answers like 'I have sufficiently explained,' 'No external pressure was exerted,' or 'I believe the value of press freedom was guaranteed.' There are an enormous number of such one-line responses."

Ko Min-jung, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, is attending the 1st plenary meeting of the Planning and Finance Committee held at the National Assembly in Yeouido, Seoul, on the 14th, providing a proposal explanation. Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

Lee's side's failure to properly submit materials could render the hearing itself ineffective. She said, "It seems their goal was to provide one-line answers. How can we conduct a confirmation hearing with this?" and expressed concern, "Has it come to this extent?"

She added, "There are provisions in the law that allow for prosecution if evidence or materials are refused to be submitted, so we believe we need to review that aspect as well."

The Democratic Party plans to question Lee during the hearing based on related documents, accusing him of media control during the MB administration. Go said, "I obtained National Intelligence Service surveillance documents received from the court from about 20 people. It is over 1,000 pages, a huge volume, and among them, about 30 cases are related to the nominee. When we selected only those confirmed to have been executed, there were about nine cases."

Among the confirmed executed documents are contents including a conservative-leaning board member leading a sudden motion of dismissal against MBC executives and publicly pressuring them to resign voluntarily, as well as the abolition of pro-opposition programs. Go said, "If even one such document had come out during the Moon Jae-in administration, they would not have been able to hold on. However, despite the existence of these documents and their execution being confirmed through the media, they keep denying, saying they have never seen or done such things," she criticized, adding, "Also, they are not responding to any requests for materials or answers."

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