Forced Termination After 24 Hours and 7 Minutes
Among the 'Broadcasting 4 Acts' promoted by the Democratic Party of Korea, the amendment to the Act on the Establishment and Operation of the Korea Communications Commission (KCC Act) passed the National Assembly on the 26th solely by the opposition party.
On the afternoon of the 26th, Shin Dong-wook, a member of the People Power Party, began an unlimited debate on the "Partial Amendment to the Broadcasting Act" at the National Assembly plenary session, prompting opposition party members to leave in a row. [Photo by Yonhap News]
On the same day, the Democratic Party forcibly ended the People Power Party's filibuster (unlimited debate), which had started the previous afternoon, after 24 hours and 7 minutes.
Immediately after the debate was ended, the KCC Act was put to a vote in the plenary session and passed unanimously with all 183 members present voting in favor. Only opposition party members participated in the vote, while People Power Party members left in protest right after the filibuster ended.
The KCC Act amendment increases the quorum for KCC resolutions from the current 2 standing members to 4. The Democratic Party proposed the amendment as party policy on the 13th of last month to prevent the KCC, which currently has 5 standing members, from being operated by only 2 members appointed by the president. Despite opposition from the ruling party, the KCC Act was rapidly passed last month in the National Assembly’s Science, Technology, Information and Broadcasting and Communications Committee and the Legislation and Judiciary Committee.
The People Power Party opposed the bill, calling it a "law to neutralize the KCC for the Democratic Party's broadcasting takeover," but once again failed to block the bill due to their numerical disadvantage in seats.
The Democratic Party plans to sequentially push through the remaining three bills among the Broadcasting 4 Acts (amendments to the Broadcasting Act, the Korea Broadcasting Culture Promotion Agency Act, and the Korea Educational Broadcasting System Act) in the plenary session. 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.
The People Power Party, which has labeled these bills as "laws for permanent left-wing broadcasting control," plans to respond again with filibusters. It is expected that the cycle of 'bill submission → filibuster → forced termination → opposition party-only passage' will repeat for each bill as it has now.
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