The Korea Media and Communications Commission is expected to establish a four-member structure meeting the minimum quorum as early as early next month.
According to the industry on the 26th, the Democratic Party of Korea recommended Ko Min-su, a professor in the Department of Law at Gangneung-Wonju National University, as the ruling party's nominee for a standing Commissioner of the Korea Media and Communications Commission (KMCC). With this, normalization of the Korea Media and Communications Commission, which had been largely idle for more than 100 days since its launch, appears set to accelerate.
The ruling party also said it would finalize its nominee for a nonstanding Commissioner by early this week. Science, ICT, Broadcasting and Communications Committee Chairperson Choi Min-hee said at the "Broadcasting, media and communications New Year's gathering" held at the Conrad Hotel in Yeouido, Seoul, on the 23rd, "We have finalized the standing Commissioner," adding, "For the nonstanding Commissioner, only the leadership's final decision remains. Early next week, at the Science, ICT, Broadcasting and Communications Committee level, we plan to wrap up appointments for the KMCC nonstanding Commissioner and the Korea Media and Communications Deliberation Committee as well." If things move quickly, the president's appointment and commissioning procedures are expected to take place after a plenary session before the Lunar New Year holiday.
The KMCC was reorganized from a five-member standing Commissioner system to a system of three standing Commissioners and four nonstanding Commissioners. Currently, the KMCC is composed only of Chairperson Kim and two nonstanding Commissioners, including Ryu Shin-hwan. Because it failed to meet the quorum of four required to convene a meeting as a collegial body, the KMCC has not held an official meeting since its launch on Oct. 1 last year.
For the KMCC, the president recommends the Chairperson and one nonstanding Commissioner; the ruling party recommends one standing Commissioner and one nonstanding Commissioner; and the opposition party recommends one standing Commissioner and two nonstanding Commissioners. All of them are appointed by the president following a vote in a National Assembly plenary session.
The KMCC faces a backlog of agenda items, including follow-up measures after the repeal of the Mobile Device Distribution Improvement Act, TV station license renewals, sanctions related to Google and Apple's violations of the in-app payment law, fact-finding on portal algorithms, and revising enforcement decrees and rules following amendments to the three broadcasting laws. The People Power Party, the opposition, is also expected to expedite the appointment process due to the burden of delays. If a quorum is secured with only the ruling party's nominees, votes could proceed excluding the opposition.
Korea Media and Communications Commission Chairperson Kim Jong-chul said at the New Year's gathering, "We embarked on a new voyage under the name 'Korea Media and Communications Commission' to推进 broadcasting and media policy in an integrated manner amid a rapidly changing environment, and I regret that we have not been able to move swiftly on the many pending issues due to delays in forming the Commission."