DP vows to stop Yoon from taking 'control' of KBS

Politics

DP vows to stop Yoon from taking 'control' of KBS

Published: 01 Aug. 2024, 16:49

MICHAEL LEE
lee.junhyuk@joongang.co.kr

From left: Reps. Yong Hae-in of the Basic Income Party, Lee Haimin of the Rebuilding Korea Party, Kim Hyun of the Democratic Party and Yoon Jong-o of the Jinbo Party submit an impeachment motion against Korea Communications Commission chief Lee Jin-sook at the National Assembly in Yeouido, western Seoul, on Thursday. [JOINT PRESS CORPS]

The liberal Democratic Party (DP) vowed on Thursday to resist what it characterized as the Yoon Suk Yeol administration’s attempts to “take control over” the country’s media after the president appointed seven board members of public broadcaster KBS.

The new KBS board members were recommended by Lee Jin-sook, chair of the Korea Communications Commission (KCC), and Vice Chair Kim Tae-gyu, after the government-aligned People Power Party (PPP) greenlit their nominations.

The two KCC standing members, both of whom Yoon had appointed the previous day, also named six new directors of the Foundation for Broadcast Culture, which, in turn, oversees public broadcaster MBC and thus controls the selection of its president.

The DP and minor liberal parties responded to the slew of media appointments by submitting a motion to impeach Lee, accusing her of violating the Act on the Establishment and Operation of the Korea Communications Commission by nominating directors of public broadcasters with support from only one other KCC standing member.

Although the DP-controlled legislature passed a bill on Friday increasing the legal quorum for KCC decisions from two to four standing members, the president is likely to veto that legislation.

Lee is the fourth KCC chief to face impeachment by the DP-controlled National Assembly for running the five-member KCC with only one other standing member.

Her immediate predecessor, Lee Sang-in, stepped down just over three weeks after replacing the previous chair, Kim Hong-il, who had served six months in the position.

Both Lee and Kim resigned voluntarily to avoid impeachment, as did Kim’s predecessor, Lee Dong-kwan, who quit three months into the job.

DP Rep. Kim Hyun, who submitted the impeachment motion to the National Assembly alongside three lawmakers from other parties, said the move to unseat Lee Jin-sook is intended “to deliver to deliver a stern warning to the Yoon administration for trying to take control over public broadcasting.”

The liberals' fresh attempt to unseat the new KCC chief prompted PPP floor leader Choo Kyung-ho to criticize the DP as being “so addicted to impeachment that it cannot help but pass an impeachment motion every day.”

Choo further characterized the DP’s effort to remove Lee one day after her appointment as “a reckless act of political terrorism aimed at disrupting state affairs” and called on the DP to “treat its addiction to impeachment and come back into the fold as a party of cooperation.”

Meanwhile, the PPP mounted a filibuster after the DP bill to distribute 250,000 won ($183) in welfare payments to every person in the country was presented to the National Assembly on Thursday.

The PPP has launched multiple filibusters over the past week in an attempt to halt the DP’s bills to overhaul governance at the country’s public broadcasters, but the DP allied with minor liberal parties to forcibly terminate each one 24 hours after they started.

The DP is thus likely to railroad the aid distribution bill through a floor vote on Friday.

While the DP aims to present additional bills to prevent companies from suing employees for strike-related losses, the likelihood of another PPP filibuster and the scheduled end of the current plenary session at midnight on Saturday means the party will likely have to wait for the National Assembly to reconvene for a temporary session later in the month to push the legislation forward.

BY MICHAEL LEE [lee.junhyuk@joongang.co.kr]