Constitutional Court Dismisses Jurisdictional Dispute on Direct Referral of 'Broadcasting Three Laws Amendment Bill'

Constitutional Court: "Legislation and Judiciary Committee Exceeded Authority with Policy Review, Exceeding 60-Day Period"
Dissenting Opinion: "Chair of Science and ICT Committee's Request to Submit to Plenary Session Violates Rights to Review and Vote on Bills"

The Constitutional Court has ruled that the direct referral of the 'Broadcasting Three Acts Amendment Bill' led by the Democratic Party of Korea to the plenary session does not infringe upon the authority of the ruling party members.

Chief Justice Yoo Nam-seok of the Constitutional Court and the constitutional justices are seated before the start of the ruling on the constitutional review request and jurisdictional dispute trial held on the 26th at the Grand Bench of the Constitutional Court in Jongno-gu, Seoul.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

On the 26th, in the authority dispute trial filed by the Legislation and Judiciary Committee members of the People Power Party against the Chairperson of the Science, Technology, Information and Broadcasting Communications Committee and the Speaker of the National Assembly, the Constitutional Court unanimously dismissed the case regarding the Speaker's proclamation of passage, and dismissed the case regarding the Committee Chairperson's request for referral to the plenary session by a 5 (dismissal) to 4 (acceptance) vote.

In March this year, the Democratic Party of Korea virtually unilaterally passed the request for direct referral to the plenary session of the 'Broadcasting Act, Broadcasting Culture Promotion Act, and Korea Educational Broadcasting System Act (Broadcasting Three Acts) Amendment Bill,' which includes changes to the governance structure of public broadcasters such as KBS, MBC, and EBS. It was formally referred to the plenary session after a secret ballot vote in the plenary session.

Article 86 of the National Assembly Act stipulates that if a bill is left pending in the Legislation and Judiciary Committee without reason for more than 60 days, the standing committee with jurisdiction may request referral to the plenary session with the approval of three-fifths of its members. The Legislation and Judiciary Committee members of the People Power Party argued that the amendment bill was being properly reviewed, so there was no unjustified delay, and that the Democratic Party's forced referral infringed on their right to review the bill, thus filing an authority dispute trial.

The Constitutional Court stated, "Since the Legislation and Judiciary Committee appears to have exceeded the 60-day review period while conducting policy review beyond its authority for systematic and textual examination, there is no reason for delay in review," and judged that "the Committee Chairperson's request for referral to the plenary session did not infringe upon the petitioners' rights to review and vote on the bill."

On the other hand, Justices Lee Eun-ae, Lee Jong-seok, Lee Young-jin, and Kim Hyung-doo held that the Committee Chairperson's request for referral to the plenary session constituted an infringement of authority.

These justices stated in their dissenting opinion, "It is difficult to see that the Science, Technology, Information and Broadcasting Communications Committee, the committee with jurisdiction, conducted specific and sufficient deliberations on major issues of each bill such as the number of directors, the composition of the board of directors, and the method of appointing the president. Therefore, the necessity to continue reviewing the constitutionality and systematic consistency of the bill at the Legislation and Judiciary Committee stage is also recognized," and added, "There are objective and reasonable grounds to expect that the Legislation and Judiciary Committee could not complete the systematic and textual examination of the bill within the 60-day period, and the Committee Chairperson's request for referral to the plenary session infringes upon the petitioners' rights to review and vote on the bill."

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