Hong-il Kim, Chairman of the Korea Communications Commission, "I Do Not Agree with the Three Broadcasting Laws... Issues with Ensuring Fairness"

Attendance at the National Assembly Science and ICT Committee Plenary Meeting
"Possibility of Raising Issues on Legislative Efficiency"

Kim Hong-il, Chairman of the Korea Communications Commission (photo), stated on the 25th that he "does not agree" with the so-called 'Broadcasting 3 Acts' passed solely by the opposition party in the Legislation and Judiciary Committee.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

The Broadcasting 3 Acts refer to the amendments to the Broadcasting Act, the Korea Broadcasting Culture Promotion Agency Act, and the Korea Educational Broadcasting System Act. The main points include significantly increasing the number of directors for public broadcasters KBS, MBC, and EBS, and granting the right to recommend directors to media and broadcasting academic societies and related professional organizations.

Chairman Kim appeared before the National Assembly's Science, Technology, Information and Broadcasting and Communications Committee that day and said, "The government requested reconsideration of the Broadcasting 3 Acts passed last year, but since the content of the bill is almost the same in intent, it is worrisome."

He continued, "According to the current Broadcasting Act and the Korea Broadcasting Culture Promotion Agency Act, representatives from each sector become directors, but the new 3 Acts designate 16 members from the broadcasting sector, and except for the 5 elected by the National Assembly, most of the 16 are broadcasting and communications-related figures. I believe this raises concerns about their lack of representativeness and bias, ultimately causing problems in securing fairness and public interest in broadcasting."

He added, "While there is no definitive answer on the appropriate number of directors, looking at public institutions in our country, the number is usually within 15. Having 21 members is excessively large, which may raise issues regarding decision-making efficiency."

Earlier, in his opening remarks, Chairman Kim stated, "As the terms of public broadcasting executives are approaching expiration, we plan to proceed with appointments in compliance with relevant laws and regulations."

Regarding the terrestrial broadcasting license renewal expiring at the end of the year, he explained, "To conduct the license renewal review, we will collect viewers' opinions and form a review committee composed of experts to ensure fairness, transparency, and professionalism."

Concerning the approval of the change in the largest shareholder of YTN, he said, "The approval was granted in February according to the Broadcasting Act, with related conditions imposed to secure broadcasting fairness. We plan to monitor compliance with the conditions of the approval and re-approval in the future."

In response to a question about YTN's news director appointment consent system, he replied, "It is not a condition for re-approval but is planned to be submitted."