Seoul City Council People Power Party Spokesperson Lee Hyowon Responds on the 17th, Stating the Ordinance Passed by Seoul City Council Is Not a 'TBS Closure Ordinance' but an Ordinance to End Seoul Citizens' Tax Support for the Biased Broadcast TBS
On the 15th, the People Power Party in the Seoul Metropolitan Council criticized the remarks made by Democratic Party members of the National Assembly during the National Assembly's Public Administration and Security Committee and Science, ICT, Broadcasting and Communications Committee audits of Seoul City, stating, "If you are going to write a script for the Democratic Party members' audit questions, please write it with a bit more sophistication."
On the 17th, Lee Hyowon, spokesperson for the People Power Party in the Seoul Metropolitan Council, issued a commentary titled 'If you are going to write a script for the Democratic Party members' audit questions, please write it with a bit more sophistication.'
Spokesperson Lee rebutted that several remarks made by Democratic Party members during the Seoul City audit by the National Assembly's Public Administration and Security Committee on the 15th and the Broadcasting and Communications Commission audit by the Science, ICT, Broadcasting and Communications Committee on the 16th were intentional distortions of facts beyond one-sided claims, making them absolutely unacceptable.
He also stated that the Democratic Party must feel deeply wounded by the closure of TBS, which had become their mouthpiece. They had anticipated that the TBS issue, which is on the brink of closure, would be placed on the audit table, creating a situation akin to shouting behind a departing train. However, Democratic Party lawmaker Lee Jeongheon (Seoul Gwangjin-gu Gap) compared the passage of the ordinance to abolish TBS support to the media suppression by the 1980s military regime, describing it as "People Power Party members of the Seoul Metropolitan Council playing supporting roles according to the Seoul Mayor's script," which Lee Hyowon argued was a completely misplaced statement.
Spokesperson Lee asserted, "The ordinance passed by the Seoul Metropolitan Council was not a 'TBS closure ordinance' but an ordinance to abolish Seoul citizens' tax support for the biased broadcaster TBS. It was a decision not to grant TBS the right to receive public funding because it had forgotten its duty as a public broadcaster."
Moreover, TBS's financial management was highly irrational and opaque. They made high-fee contracts without documentation and lacked many supporting documents related to payments. This was an administrative issue that the council, which oversees Seoul City's tax funds, could never overlook, leading to this decision.
Given these clear reasons, it is laughable to call the ordinance passed through democratic procedures and formalities by the council representing the will of Seoul citizens media suppression.
Rather, the closure of TBS should be attributed to the outstanding performances of former Mayor Park Won-soon, who led biased broadcasting while relying on citizens' taxes, and the TBS labor union, which played leading and supporting roles alongside Kim Eo-jun.
Additionally, the allegation regarding the Han River dock construction project raised by Democratic Party lawmaker Lee Kwanghee (Chungbuk Cheongju-si Seowon-gu) from the Public Administration and Security Committee seems to be another prearranged script by the Democratic Party, but it appears to be a serious misstep.
Lawmaker Lee Kwanghee and the Democratic Party may want to script this project as a "30 billion won construction project preferential treatment case" using a staged, edited recording, but the fact that this project is a private venture with no Seoul City financial input is a huge loophole.
The person identified as the "employee" in the recording approached the project claiming to want to invest, elicited exaggerated statements from the company representative, recorded them, threatened, and attempted to extort money. This individual was already criminally charged on September 30 for fraud, attempted extortion, and obstruction of business. It recalls the absurd falsehoods concluded from the Cheongdam-dong drinking party recording.
Responding to each question raised by Democratic Party members during this Seoul City audit would waste a lot of time. To save precious time, I will conclude with this one phrase.
"If you are going to write a script, please write it with a bit more sophistication!"
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