A bill to amend the Korean Educational Broadcasting Corporation Act (EBS Act) to increase the number of directors at EBS passed the National Assembly plenary session on the 22nd, led by the Democratic Party of Korea. Following the passage of amendments to the Broadcasting Act and the Broadcasting Culture Promotion Act, the so-called 'three broadcasting laws' have all passed.
The National Assembly passed the EBS Act with 179 votes in favor and 1 against out of 180 members present at the plenary session on the morning of the 22nd.
The EBS Act increases the number of EBS directors from 9 to 13, with recommendations for directors coming from the National Assembly (5), viewer council (2), employees (1), academic societies (1), educational organizations (2), the education superintendent council (1), and the Minister of Education (1).
When the three broadcasting laws that have passed the plenary session take effect, KBS, MBC, and EBS will need to reconstitute their boards within three months. If terrestrial and comprehensive programming channels, as well as news specialized channels, do not establish a programming committee with an equal number of labor and management representatives, they will face fines. The public broadcasting president candidate recommendation committee will be composed of more than 100 members to narrow down the candidate pool.
The People Power Party has opposed the three broadcasting laws promoted by the Democratic Party. They determined that the implementation of the three broadcasting laws would fill public broadcasting director positions with individuals favored by the ruling party and labor unions, thereby weakening political neutrality. As a result, they conducted filibusters on each of the three bills, but the Democratic Party concluded the filibuster 24 hours later as per National Assembly rules and processed the bills. Back Seung-a, spokesperson for the Democratic Party of Korea, noted, 'We completed the processing of the three broadcasting laws in today's National Assembly plenary session,' and assessed it as 'a historic first step in recovering media independence and freedom.'
The People Power Party expressed its discontent. Song Eon-seok, chairman of the emergency response committee and floor leader of the People Power Party, criticized, 'The broadcasting control law is a law that expands the involvement of the media labor union in all appointments including public broadcasting directors, presidents, and heads of news, and it is merely a law to subject public broadcasting to union power.'