National Assembly Science and ICT Committee Criticizes Approval of Audit Request
"Science and ICT Committee Operation Has Crossed the Line of Common Sense"
Kim Tae-gyu, Acting Chairman of the Korea Communications Commission (KCC), criticized the National Assembly's Science, ICT, Broadcasting and Communications Committee's resolution to request an audit from the Board of Audit and Inspection regarding the appointment process of public broadcasting directors at the KCC as a "low trick aimed at influencing an ongoing court ruling." The KCC is currently disputing in court the suspension of the appointment execution of new directors at the Korea Broadcasting Culture Promotion Foundation and KBS.
On the 30th, Acting Chairman Kim issued a statement at the Government Complex Gwacheon, saying, "(The opposition party) talks daily about representing the people and the authority of the National Assembly, but they seem unwilling to show even the minimum courtesy to the executive branch, which is formed based on the democratic legitimacy of a president elected by popular vote."
He also pointed out that although the opposition's Science, ICT, Broadcasting and Communications Committee criticizes the KCC's appointment of public broadcasting directors as hasty, the process of passing the audit request was a one-sided dictatorship by the majority without serious consideration, making it embarrassing even to call it hasty.
Acting Chairman Kim further responded to the opposition's reason for the audit, citing the "illegality of the two-person decision-making system," by saying, "Even in the injunction decision regarding the appointment of new directors at the Korea Broadcasting Culture Promotion Foundation, it was stated that the legality of the two-person system needed to be examined, but it was not definitively ruled illegal," adding, "If they cannot abandon that claim, they should just wait for the outcome of the ongoing court ruling."
Regarding the opposition's claim that the KCC violated the National Assembly's Hearing and Testimony Act by failing to properly submit documents and refusing to testify, he said, "They paralyzed the KCC's functions through impeachment of the chairman and then pressured us by saying we do not submit documents or testify."
He added, "The request to audit the process by which the KCC Secretariat submitted a document titled 'Reasons Why the Appointment of Public Broadcasting Directors Is Legal' to the ruling party side seems to have ulterior motives," and said, "How exhausted must the staff be for a certain department head to complain about their situation."
Acting Chairman Kim stated, "The reason for forcibly passing such an illegal and unfair audit request seems to be to structure the public broadcasting directors as the opposition desires," and added, "Since the previous directors with pro-opposition tendencies filed administrative lawsuits, they probably wanted to steer this favorably."
He continued, "Yesterday, the impeachment of Prosecutor Lee Jeong-seop was unanimously dismissed by the Constitutional Court. This clearly shows how political the currently rampant impeachments are."
Acting Chairman Kim said, "In my judgment, the operation of the Science, ICT, Broadcasting and Communications Committee has already crossed the line of common sense," and added, "They only shout absurdly and try to suppress, so a backlash is occurring."
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