Ruling and Opposition Clash at Public Broadcaster Board Appointment Hearing... Lee Jin-sook Scheduled to Attend in the Afternoon

The ruling and opposition parties clashed in the National Assembly over the appointment of the public broadcasting board members by the Korea Communications Commission (KCC). The opposition questioned whether the appointment process of the two-person board, including KCC Chairperson Lee Jin-sook, was appropriate, while the ruling party argued that it was not illegal.

Lee Jin-sook, nominee for Chairperson of the Korea Communications Commission, is delivering a greeting at the confirmation hearing held on the 24th by the National Assembly's Science, Technology, Information and Broadcasting and Communications Committee. Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

On the 14th, the National Assembly's Science, Technology, Information and Broadcasting and Communications Committee held a hearing titled "Hearing on Illegal Appointment of Visiting Directors and Broadcasting Control" at the National Assembly in Yeouido, Seoul. Kim Tae-gyu, the KCC Vice Chairman, attended the hearing. Chairperson Lee Jin-sook was treated as a general witness and is scheduled to appear in the afternoon.

The opposition considers the appointment of 13 public broadcasting directors under the two-person system of Chairperson Lee and Vice Chairman Kim to be illegal. Lee Jeong-heon, a Democratic Party lawmaker, said, "Today is a day to investigate and hold accountable the hasty replacement of the directors of the Korea Broadcasting Culture Promotion Foundation (Visiting), the major shareholders of KBS and MBC, just 10 hours after the two started work," adding, "The previous KCC under Kim Hong-il and Lee Sang-in created loopholes in the verification process, and the current KCC under Lee Jin-sook and Kim Tae-gyu passed unqualified candidates through those loopholes."

On the other hand, the ruling party maintains that the KCC's appointment of board members is not illegal. Shin Dong-wook, a lawmaker from the People Power Party, said, "Using expressions like 'illegal' or 'broadcasting control' already presupposes that the appointment of directors itself is illegal."

The Science, Technology, Information and Broadcasting and Communications Committee held its first hearing on the 9th, but Chairperson Lee did not attend. At that time, Lee explained in a letter of absence that she was unable to attend because her duties were suspended after the impeachment motion passed the plenary session of the National Assembly and she was hospitalized due to health issues. The opposition then declared that they would hold unlimited hearings until Chairperson Lee appeared.

However, it is doubtful whether the opposition's offensive against the KCC will lead to substantial results. Before her duties were suspended, Chairperson Lee completed the appointment process for 13 directors of KBS and the Visiting on the 31st of last month. On the 8th, the Seoul Administrative Court decided to suspend the appointment effect for six Visiting directors, but this is only a provisional measure to prevent unnecessary disputes.

The opposition is also considering a parliamentary audit as a breakthrough. On the 1st of this month, the seven opposition parties (the Democratic Party, the Party for Innovation and Justice, the Reform Party, the Social Democratic Party, the Basic Income Party, the Progressive Party, and the New Future Party) met with National Assembly Speaker Woo Won-shik to demand a parliamentary audit on the KCC's appointment of directors. The day before, the floor leaders of six opposition parties, excluding the New Future Party, met at a restaurant in Yeouido, Seoul, to coordinate their opinions on the parliamentary audit. After the meeting, Jung Jin-wook, secretary to the Democratic Party floor leader, told reporters, "We decided to hold a regular meeting of the seven opposition parties once a month to strengthen cooperation," adding, "There were no major disagreements on the parliamentary audit, but it cannot be said that opinions were completely unified."