Adoption of 'Lee Dong-kwan Hearing Report' Faces Difficulties... Ruling and Opposition Parties in Tug of War

Morning General Meeting Attended Only by Opposition... Unable to Proceed
Park Seong-jung: Meeting Cannot Be Held Without Agreement on Hearing Report Content
Jo Seung-rae "Sudden Meeting Cancellation Breaks Secretary-General Agreement"

The confirmation hearing report for nominee Lee Dong-gwan, candidate for Chairman of the Korea Communications Commission, is facing difficulties as the deadline for adoption on the 21st approaches. With the ruling and opposition parties unable to narrow their differences over the adoption of the hearing report, it is expected that adoption within the deadline will be impossible. President Yoon Seok-yeol is reportedly considering appointing Lee as the new Chairman of the Korea Communications Commission around the 24th or 25th, the last day of the Eulji exercise, since Acting Chairman Kim Hyo-jae’s term expires on the 23rd.

The National Assembly’s Science, Technology, Information and Broadcasting and Communications Committee failed to hold a plenary session this morning, resulting in a breakdown. Members of the ruling party’s committee did not attend the meeting, citing a lack of agreement on the agenda regarding the adoption of the confirmation hearing report.

It is reported that no draft of the hearing report for nominee Lee has been prepared yet. Typically, the contents to be included in the hearing report draft are decided through an agreement between the ruling and opposition party secretaries, after which the adoption of the report is discussed in a plenary session. Park Seong-jung, the ruling party secretary of the committee and a member of the People Power Party, said in an MBC radio interview, "We proposed adopting parts of the Lee Dong-gwan nominee’s hearing report with certain conditions that would prevent adoption of other parts, but the opposition is not listening."

Opposition Science, ICT, Broadcasting and Communications Committee members are holding their seats on the 21st in the National Assembly Science, Technology, Information and Broadcasting and Communications Committee meeting room, urging the convening of a plenary meeting to discuss the adoption of the personnel hearing report for nominee Lee Dong-gwan, Chairman of the Broadcasting and Communications Committee. Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

Opposition members are in favor of holding a plenary session to discuss the contents of the hearing report. Cho Seung-rae, opposition party secretary and a member of the Democratic Party, said in a phone interview, "I publicly stated that if an agreement is reached, a meeting could be held, but the ruling party has not responded," adding, "The ruling party insists that the entire content of the hearing report must be agreed upon before holding a meeting."

Earlier, Cho said after gathering with the opposition alone in the committee meeting room and speaking to reporters, "If there is a discussion (between the ruling and opposition secretaries), there is a possibility that the plenary session could be held again (even in the afternoon)," and "We will continue to negotiate with the ruling party secretary and chairman to hold the meeting, and if they have no intention of holding it, they should transfer the chairmanship to me."

Cho accused the ruling party of suddenly canceling the meeting schedule agreed upon by both parties, violating the agreement. He explained, "That (adoption of the hearing report) was not the agenda originally agreed upon for today’s plenary session," and "The agreement was to hold a plenary session to listen to opinions and then discuss how to adopt the hearing report based on those opinions, but suddenly they overturned the agreement and changed their stance to say that the meeting can only be held if there is an agreement on the hearing report."

The committee still has a chance to hold a meeting late in the afternoon. If the contents to be included in the report are finalized through negotiations between the ruling and opposition secretaries, a meeting could be held even late at night.

However, since today is the deadline for adopting the hearing report, even if the ruling and opposition parties prepare an agreement, it is highly likely that the adoption of the report will fail. In this case, President Yoon can request the National Assembly to resubmit the confirmation hearing report within a period of 10 days. If the report is not submitted within that period, the president can appoint the nominee without the hearing report starting the following day.

If the hearing report is not adopted this time either, nominee Lee will become the 16th appointment for which President Yoon has pushed through the appointment without a hearing report.

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