The amendment to the 'Broadcasting 3 Laws' (Broadcasting Act, Broadcasting Culture Promotion Act, Korea Educational Broadcasting System Act), led by the Democratic Party of Korea, passed through the Science. ICT. Broadcasting. and Communications Committee's subcommittee on telecommunications and broadcasting bills on the 2nd.
This amendment includes provisions to significantly increase the number of directors of public broadcasters such as KBS, the Broadcast Culture Promotion Agency (MBC), and EBS, as well as to expand the entities that recommend directors to include civic organizations. The Democratic Party plans to convene a full committee meeting next week to process the amendment to the Broadcasting 3 Laws and pass it during the July special National Assembly session.
The subcommittee meeting was held without the participation of all members except for the People Power Party's secretary, Representative Choi Hyung-doo. The People Power Party strongly opposed the Democratic Party's unilateral convening of the subcommittee and notification of the schedule, boycotting the meeting itself.
Members of the People Power Party's subcommittee held a press conference at the National Assembly communication center, claiming that "the Broadcasting 3 Laws pushed by the Democratic Party are fundamentally unconstitutional bad laws that we cannot agree with," asserting, "There are hidden schemes to permanently take control of public broadcasting in collusion with specific forces such as the Democratic Labor Union and the Media Workers' Union." They also urged the immediate cessation of the Democratic Party's "reckless operation of the standing committee," demanding the complete scrapping of the secretive, hasty, and unconstitutional Broadcasting 3 Laws and a discussion from scratch.
Representative Kim Hyun of the Democratic Party, the ruling party's secretary on the subcommittee, told reporters, "The Democratic Party and the Rebuilding Korea Party have created a unified proposal and achieved results," adding, "We will hold a meeting of the full committee as soon as possible so that it can be processed through the Legislative and Judiciary Committee and the general assembly."
Representative Han Min-soo of the Democratic Party, a member of the subcommittee, stated, "The subcommittee's approval of the Broadcasting 3 Laws will be a starting point for securing the fairness and independence of broadcasting."
The Broadcasting 3 Laws passed two National Assembly plenary sessions under the leadership of the Democratic Party when it was the opposition party, but were discarded following the exercise of former President Yoon Suk-yeol's right to request reconsideration (veto) and subsequent reevaluation by the National Assembly.