People Power Party lawmakers on the National Assembly's Science. ICT. Broadcasting. and Communications Committee said they will file a police complaint against Chairperson Choi Min-hee. They said ordering the MBC news division chief to leave during a closed-door briefing constitutes abuse of authority and a violation of the Broadcasting Act.
People Power Party members of the committee held a press conference at the National Assembly on the 23rd and said, "We have determined that Chairperson Choi's act of ordering the MBC news division chief to leave is a clear abuse of authority and a violation of the Broadcasting Act, and we plan to file a police complaint tomorrow (the 24th)."
They cited a past case in which Lee Jung-hyun, a former Saenuri Party lawmaker, was convicted of violating the Broadcasting Act for calling the KBS news chief to protest coverage of the Sewol ferry incident while serving as presidential senior secretary for public affairs. They added, "This case is even more egregious than the previous case of Lee's interference in Sewol ferry coverage."
They added, "The People Power Party will hold Chairperson Choi strictly accountable under the law for abuse of authority and calls for the immediate resignation of Chairperson Choi, who has forgotten the National Assembly's proper role."
Earlier, at a closed-door briefing during the parliamentary audit on the 20th, Chairperson Choi pointed out that MBC's coverage of the disruption of the audit was unfair. When the MBC news division chief replied that "it is inappropriate to question individual reports," Choi is said to have ordered the person to leave. In response, media groups including the MBC Reporters' Association, the National Union of Media Workers MBC Headquarters, and the Journalists Association of Korea criticized it as "an infringement on press independence" and demanded an apology.
At the committee's audit that day as well, Chairperson Choi's order for the MBC news division chief to leave the audit room and the controversy over a child's wedding came under scrutiny.
People Power Party lawmaker Park Jeong-hun criticized, "Chairperson Choi holding a child's wedding during the audit period at the National Assembly, telling MBC's news division chief to leave on the grounds that coverage was not done as desired, and telling reporters covering the standing committee to leave for reporting selectively are all authoritarian ideas," adding, "Choi is not qualified to preside over the standing committee."
Within the Democratic Party of Korea as well, there is a mood that Chairperson Choi should restrain remarks and actions. Moon Jin-seok, senior deputy floor leader for operations, said in a daily briefing that day regarding the controversy over Chairperson Choi, "The floor and party leadership see this as serious." Lawmaker Park Jie-won also said in a CBS radio interview, "Ordering (the news division chief) to leave regarding MBC was too much," adding, "It would be good for Chairperson Choi to express appropriate regret."