A bill to amend the Broadcasting Act to change the governance structure of KBS passed the National Assembly's plenary session on the 5th, led by the Democratic Party of Korea. Legislation to change the number of board members for MBC and EBS is expected to be addressed during the extraordinary session in August. The People Power Party responded with a filibuster to block the amendment to the Broadcasting Act, but it was forcibly concluded after 24 hours.
The National Assembly passed the amendment to the Broadcasting Act with 178 votes in favor and 2 against out of 180 members present at the plenary session that day.
At the plenary session that day, only the amendment to the Broadcasting Act among the 'Broadcasting 3 Laws (Broadcasting Act, Broadcasting Culture Promotion Act, and Korea Educational Broadcasting System Act) was passed. The amendment to the Broadcasting Culture Promotion Act was also immediately put forward, but as the People Power Party launched into a filibuster, the July extraordinary session's term ended. The first runner for the People Power Party's filibuster on the Broadcasting Culture Promotion Act will be Representative Kim Jang-gyeom.
The amendment to the Broadcasting Act includes provisions to increase the number of KBS board members recommended by the Korea Communications Commission from 11 to 15, and it stipulates that the National Assembly (6 members), the viewer committee (2 members), employees (3 members), academic societies (2 members), and bar associations (2 members) recommend appointees. Additionally, it mandates the formation of programming committees and president candidate recommendation committees. A consent system for appointing the heads of public broadcasting and specialized news channels will also be established.
If the amendments to the Broadcasting Culture Promotion Act and the Korea Educational Broadcasting System Act pass, the major shareholder of MBC, the Broadcasting Culture Promotion Association, will increase its board members from 9 to 13. The board members of the Broadcasting Culture Promotion Association will be recommended by the National Assembly (5 members), the viewer committee (2 members), employees (2 members), academic societies (2 members), and bar associations (2 members). EBS will have its board members recommended by the National Assembly (5 members), the viewer committee (2 members), employees (1 member), academic societies (1 member), educational organizations (2 members), the educational administrative council (1 member), and the Minister of Education (1 member).
Once the Broadcasting 3 Laws are implemented, KBS, MBC, and EBS will have to reconstitute their boards within three months. Furthermore, terrestrial, comprehensive channels, and specialized news channels will be fined if they do not establish programming committees with equal representation of labor and management. The public broadcasting president candidate recommendation committee will consist of more than 100 members to narrow down the candidate pool.
The Democratic Party claims that the Broadcasting 3 Laws will reduce political interference in public broadcasting. However, the opposition criticizes that individuals favored by the ruling party or labor unions will be appointed as board members. The People Power Party's Shin Dong-uk and Choi Hyung-du served as discussants to carry out the filibuster the day before. The filibuster was concluded around 4:46 p.m. that day, 24 hours later, according to the National Assembly Act.
Selecting the Broadcasting 3 Laws as a priority legislative matter, the Democratic Party plans to immediately address amendments to the Broadcasting Culture Promotion Act and the Korea Educational Broadcasting System Act during the extraordinary session in August. The People Power Party intends to launch a filibuster every time the bill is introduced.
Representative Han Min-soo of the Democratic Party expressed gratitude during the explanation of the Broadcasting Culture Promotion Act proposal, saying, 'Thank you deeply for approving the amendment to the Broadcasting Act that I explained yesterday (the 4th),' and added, 'The dream of President Lee Jae-myung and the government and the Democratic Party to return public broadcasting to the people has just begun.'
Song Eon-seok, chairperson of the emergency response committee of the People Power Party and floor leader, stated at the morning floor meeting that 'the 3 laws to control broadcasting are a prelude to the dictatorship of the Lee Jae-myung regime,' and warned, 'If the Democratic Party ultimately ignores the bipartisan agreement and forcibly processes the bill, we will mobilize all legal measures to fight back.'