Opposition Five Parties Push Impeachment of Broadcasting Commission Chair... Park Jeong-hoon Condemns as "Intent to Seize Broadcasting"

Kim Hong-il, Third Minister-Level Impeachment Target in Yoon Administration

The five opposition parties, including the Democratic Party of Korea and the Joguk Innovation Party, pushed for the impeachment of Kim Hong-il, the minister-level chairman of the Korea Communications Commission, prompting the People Power Party to intervene, calling it an "attempt to seize control of the media." Chairman Kim is the third minister-level official in the Yoon Suk-yeol administration to face impeachment, following Minister of the Interior and Safety Lee Sang-min and former Korea Communications Commission Chairman Lee Dong-kwan, leading the ruling party to strongly oppose it, calling it a "habitual impeachment disease."

Kim Hong-il, Chairman of the Korea Communications Commission (right in the photo), is speaking at the meeting between the Chairman of the Korea Communications Commission and representatives of telecommunications companies and device manufacturers held on March 22 at the Press Center in Jung-gu, Seoul. Photo by Joint Press Corps

On the 28th, Park Jung-hoon, a member of the People Power Party, appeared on MBC Radio's 'Kim Jong-bae's Focus' and criticized, "(The opposition) claims that the two-person system under Chairman Kim Hong-il violates the law, but that legal basis is completely incorrect."

Park explained, "The inevitability of the two-person system is also the responsibility of the opposition. The opposition should recommend their share but they are not doing so. For example, if the two-person system is a problem, they could recommend one more person for the opposition's share and operate a three-person system, but the opposition does not recommend that." He added, "There could be various interpretations, but if there are three people, the grounds for impeachment itself would disappear, so we speculate that this is the reason."

He also said, "Since the term of the major shareholder of MBC, the Visiting Committee, is ending, a new one will be formed in August, and the Democratic Party's intention is to block that process," adding, "Isn't it their intention to maintain the current governance structure of MBC?" He continued, "We judge that this is happening as part of the opposition's continued attempt to seize control of public broadcasting at MBC," and added, "Realistically, the president, who has the appointment authority, is expected to consider various methods to prevent the political situation from going according to the opposition's wishes."

On the other hand, the opposition is questioning the legitimacy of the Korea Communications Commission's 'two-person system.' Kim Hyun, the Democratic Party's floor leader on the National Assembly's Science, Technology, Information and Broadcasting and Communications Committee, appeared on the same program and said, "Impeachment is about questioning administrative issues before a legal decision is made, and if one repeatedly commits wrongdoing knowing there is a possibility of illegality, they should no longer perform their duties." He added, "The court ruled to suspend the dismissal of MBC Visiting Committee directors, stating that decisions made by two people in a five-member collegial body have a possibility of illegality. Even if Chairman Kim and the People Power Party claim it is not illegal, we cannot overlook the broadcasting control actions that further violate the constitution and laws, so we have proposed a bill."

The five opposition parties, including the Democratic Party of Korea and the Joguk Innovation Party, jointly proposed an impeachment motion against Kim Hong-il the day before. If the impeachment motion passes, Chairman Kim's duties will be suspended until the Constitutional Court makes a decision. The opposition plans to process the impeachment motion against Chairman Kim within the June extraordinary session of the National Assembly, which runs until July 4.

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