President Yoon Approves Dismissal Proposal for Han Sang-hyuk, Chairman of the Korea Communications Commission

Presidential Office: "Chairman Han Unable to Perform Duties Normally"

President Yoon Suk-yeol approved the dismissal of Han Sang-hyuk, Chairman of the Korea Communications Commission, on the 30th.

On the same day, the presidential spokesperson's office stated in a written release, "According to the indictment and hearing materials regarding Chairman Han Sang-hyuk, he completely failed to fulfill his duties as the person responsible for directing and supervising the directors and the head of the review committee of the Korea Communications Commission, who were arrested and indicted on charges including manipulating evaluation scores during the TV Chosun license renewal review process."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

It added, "When Chairman Han received a report from the staff that there were no issues with TV Chosun in the license renewal review committee's evaluation results, he expressed difficulty in accepting the score tally by saying, 'This is maddening, it will get noisy, I will get some criticism,' thereby compromising his impartiality as the Chairman of the Korea Communications Commission."

The spokesperson's office said, "(Chairman Han) was informed that 'some review committee members of the TV Chosun license renewal review committee were asked to retroactively revise TV Chosun's evaluation scores, resulting in some categories falling below the passing threshold,' and he deceived other commissioners who were unaware of this manipulation during the full meeting of the Korea Communications Commission, thereby obstructing official duties through deception to ensure a 'conditional license renewal' decision for TV Chosun."

It also stated, "He directly ordered the inclusion of A, a member of the Citizens' Coalition for Democratic Media who had consistently argued for the cancellation of TV Chosun's license renewal, as a member of the TV Chosun license renewal review committee, abusing his authority as chairman by bypassing consultation procedures with other standing commissioners of the Korea Communications Commission."

The spokesperson's office pointed out, "Finally, Chairman Han abused his authority by arbitrarily shortening the validity period of TV Chosun's license renewal from four years to three years, ignoring the internal standards set by the Korea Communications Commission, and when media investigations revealed the post hoc manipulation of TV Chosun's evaluation scores, he ordered the preparation and distribution of a false press release stating that 'the Korea Communications Commission had no involvement in the evaluation of TV Chosun's scores,' thereby instructing the creation of false official documents."

The spokesperson's office explained, "By violating his command and supervisory responsibilities as Chairman of the Korea Communications Commission, he caused an unprecedented situation where three people were arrested and indicted, and due to his direct involvement in serious crimes leading to criminal prosecution, he reached a situation where normal performance of his duties as chairman was impossible, resulting in his dismissal."