Ongoing Clash Between Ruling and Opposition Parties Over Lee Dong-gwan... "Foot-dragging" vs "Must Withdraw Appointment"

The ruling and opposition parties continued their dispute on the 29th over the nomination of Lee Dong-gwan as the chairman of the Korea Communications Commission. The People Power Party criticized the opposition's objections to the nominee as 'obstruction,' while the Democratic Party of Korea launched an offensive, calling him a "typical case of an abusive, malicious parent complainant."

Candidate Lee Dong-gwan, nominee for Chairman of the Korea Communications Commission, is greeting at the briefing room of the Presidential Office building in Yongsan, Seoul on the 28th. [Image source=Yonhap News]

On the same day, Yoon Hee-seok, spokesperson for the People Power Party, stated in a commentary, "President Yoon Seok-yeol's nomination this time is because Lee is a person who possesses both the experience and determination to innovatively transform our broadcasting ecosystem with a future-oriented vision." Yoon added, "If there are any issues, they can be verified through the confirmation hearing in a way that meets the public's expectations," and criticized, "The Democratic Party, which is 'all in' on obstruction by deciding the answer before even starting, do they want to stop the country as it is?"

Yoon also said, "The Democratic Party demands the withdrawal of the appointment based on all sorts of groundless assumptions, claiming it is an 'appointment for broadcasting control,' but that claim itself is self-contradictory," and questioned, "Wasn't former commissioner Han Sang-hyuk, who acted as a henchman for the Moon Jae-in administration and even manipulated evaluation scores of comprehensive programming channels, the worst perpetrator of broadcasting control?"

On the other hand, Kang Seon-woo, spokesperson for the Democratic Party, urged the withdrawal of the nomination during a National Assembly briefing, calling Lee "a typical case of an 'abusive, malicious parent complainant' who exerted external pressure for a child involved in school violence." Kang said, "It has been confirmed that the nominee exerted specific external pressure on the school for his child involved in school violence," and claimed, "Regarding the 2012 school violence controversy involving his son, Lee claimed he only called Kim Seung-yu, then chairman of Hana High School where his son was enrolled, to verify the facts, but this turned out to be a blatant lie."

Furthermore, he said, "Instead of taking responsibility and reflecting on the school violence, he tried to prevent his son from transferring immediately to avoid disadvantages in his academic record," and demanded, "If President Yoon Seok-yeol feels even a trace of emotion over the death of a teacher in Seocho District, he should withdraw this nominee and apologize to the public."