After the Passage of the Three Broadcasting Laws, the Korea Communications Commission Proposes Presidential Veto

KCC "Proposal for Presidential Reconsideration Request"
Criticism of Board's Lack of Representation and Bias
Lee Dong-gwan "Broadcasting 3 Laws Are Permanent Left-Wing Media Control Bills"

After the Broadcasting Three Acts (amendments to the Broadcasting Act, the Broadcasting Culture Promotion Act, and the Korea Educational Broadcasting System Act) were passed in the National Assembly plenary session through a ruling party opposition party-only vote, the Korea Communications Commission proposed that the president exercise the veto power.

On the 9th, the partial amendment bill to the Broadcasting Act (alternative) was passed at the plenary session of the National Assembly. Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

On the 9th, the KCC stated, "The bill to change the governance structure of public broadcasting was forcibly processed from the standing committee to the plenary session without bipartisan agreement by the opposition party, and there are four issues, so we cannot help but propose a 'reconsideration request for the bill' as stipulated in the Constitution." The reconsideration request means the president's veto power.

The four issues pointed out by the KCC are the lack of representation of various social sectors on the public broadcasting board of directors, bias in the public broadcasting board, increased inefficiency of the board, and lack of procedural legitimacy in the bill processing process.

The KCC said, "It is necessary for directors to be recommended not only from the broadcasting sector but also from various fields such as management, economy, law, and regions," adding, "In particular, some occupational representative organizations have unclear legal status, and among several organizations, only three cannot be said to have representativeness."

The KCC also said, "There is concern about bias as the majority of the board is composed of directors recommended by organizations biased toward a specific ideology," and "There is also concern that the fairness of the board may be compromised if the viewer committee, selected by the broadcasting company's executive branch or labor union representatives, recommends directors."

It continued, "What we need to discuss is not an external change such as increasing the number of directors, but a comprehensive reform of the public broadcasting system so that public broadcasting can properly fulfill its role in preparation for the future," and "We ask the public to take great interest in ensuring broadcasting freedom and independence and enabling public broadcasting to fulfill its role."

Lee Dong-kwan, Chairman of the Korea Communications Commission, is expressing his position regarding the impeachment motion against him at the National Assembly Rotunda Hall on the 9th. Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

On the same day, Lee Dong-gwan, chairman of the KCC, told reporters at the National Assembly, "The Broadcasting Three Acts are laws that, in political terms, the media say are intended to perpetuate a tilted playing field and perpetuate left-wing media control."

Chairman Lee criticized, "One of the three media organizations that recommend directors is an arbitrary organization that has not even received establishment approval from the competent authority. It is questionable what kind of representativeness such an organization can have," and "More decisively, there is no basis for the number of directors being 21."

He explained, "There were many discussions about this (amendment to the Broadcasting Act) even when the Democratic Party was the ruling party," and "I understand the reason for opposition at that time was to restrict the president's personnel authority over the KBS president."

Chairman Lee pointed out, "Those who used to broadcast fairly are now broadcasting unfairly and biased," and "I believe there will definitely be public judgment and impeachment for pushing through such an absurd bill that does not make sense. In this context, it is a natural consequence for the president to exercise the veto power."

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