Ministry of Science and ICT Ends Dispute with Former Official over Unfair Disciplinary Action, Citing Respect for Court Ruling

The Ministry of Science and ICT has decided not to appeal after losing both the first and second trials in court regarding the disciplinary action imposed on a senior official responsible for registering the Unification TV channel operator.

On August 9, the Ministry announced on its website that it had decided to respect the court's ruling and would not file an appeal regarding the court's decision to cancel the disciplinary action against the former Director-General of Broadcasting Promotion Policy.

On August 5, President Lee Jaemyung stated that the current administration would withdraw lawsuits or forgo appeals and further appeals in ongoing cases involving civil servants who were unfairly dismissed or disciplined during the Yoon Sukyeol administration. The Ministry's decision is the first case in which a government ministry has accepted a judicial ruling regarding a general civil servant, aside from the cases mentioned by the Presidential Office.

Civil servant A, an official of the Ministry of Science and ICT, served as a senior official in the department responsible when Unification TV, established in 2018, applied for its third registration as a Program Provider (PP). Previously, Unification TV had applied for channel registration twice in 2019 and 2020, but both applications were denied due to concerns that the channel could undermine the public responsibility and public interest of broadcasting.

A approved the registration of Unification TV as a program channel operator in May 2021, judging that the reasons for previous rejections had been resolved after the business plan was revised based on requests from working-level officials at relevant ministries and external expert advisory meetings.

However, after Unification TV signed a channel supply contract in August 2022 and began broadcasting video content produced in North Korea, controversy arose in January 2023 over allegations that the channel was promoting the superiority of the North Korean regime, leading to the suspension of broadcasts.

Following the controversy, the Office of Public Service Discipline in the Presidential Office under the Yoon Sukyeol administration launched a comprehensive investigation into the matter in 2023, and KT unilaterally suspended the channel's broadcast. The Ministry of Science and ICT subsequently disciplined a large number of officials, including the Director-General of Broadcasting Policy and working-level staff, who had approved the channel's registration.

In response, civil servant A filed a lawsuit against the Minister of Science and ICT seeking to overturn the suspension.

In October of last year, the 7th Administrative Division of the Seoul Administrative Court ruled that the Ministry’s decision to impose severe disciplinary action in August 2023 against the official who approved the Unification TV registration?more than two years after the approval?was unjust. The Seoul High Court upheld this ruling at the end of last month.

The court pointed out that it was inappropriate for the Ministry to retroactively investigate the approval process more than two years after the registration was granted. The court also stated that such actions violate the Constitution, which prohibits censorship of the press and publications, and contravene the Broadcasting Act, which classifies program channel operator registration as a reporting matter rather than a licensing matter.