The opposition-controlled National Assembly has passed four bills aimed at reducing the government’s influence over public broadcasters, after ending a six-day filibuster by the ruling People Power Party (PPP).
The Assembly passed an amendment to the Korea Educational Broadcasting System Act, Tuesday, as opposition parties ended the PPP’s filibuster after 24 hours.
The revision aims to increase the number of board directors at public broadcaster EBS from the current nine to 21 and expand the authority to recommend members from the government to media-related academic circles and viewer committees.
A filibuster involves lawmakers holding the floor for extended periods as a way to prevent a vote or to delay the passage of a bill. Under the National Assembly Act, a filibuster can be stopped after 24 hours if at least three-fifths, or 180 lawmakers, consent to it.
The bill was approved in a plenary session with 189 votes in favor out of all 189 lawmakers present. All members of the PPP, which had opposed the bill, walked out of the chamber before voting began.
Rep. Kim Yong-tae of the PPP spoke for 13 hours and 12 minutes on Monday, the longest speech of the filibuster so far.
Following Tuesday's vote, all four broadcasting bills, including amendments to the Broadcasting Act, the Foundation for Broadcast Culture Act, the Korea Educational Broadcasting System Act and the establishment of the Korea Communications Commission (KCC), passed through the National Assembly. They are all intended to reform the governance structure of the nation’s public broadcast media by weakening the government and Assembly’s power to appoint their board directors.
The filibuster staged by PPP lawmakers seeking to block the passage of four contentious bills began on Thursday and continued around the clock for more than 110 hours by Tuesday morning.
The PPP, which holds 108 out of 300 Assembly seats, staged a rally at the National Assembly to condemn the opposition party's unilateral passage of the broadcasting bills.
“The main opposition party’s attempt to flaunt its power by dominating public broadcasters is rampant. The DPK formed a board of directors in accordance with the current law under the Moon Jae-in administration, but they suddenly changed their stance after becoming the opposition party. Now they are trying to change the governance structure by appointing left-leaning labor union members to dominate the broadcasting industry,” said Rep. Choo Kyung-ho, floor leader of the PPP.
The PPP also asked President Yoon Suk Yeol to veto the four bills.
Last year, Yoon vetoed three broadcasting bills, excluding the revision to the act on the establishment of the KCC, after they were passed by the opposition-led Assembly.
Rep. Park Chan-dae, floor leader of the DPK, urged Yoon not to veto the bills.
“If President Yoon rejects the four broadcasting bills again, he will be following in the footsteps of former dictators’ regimes he admires,” Park said.
The DPK said the bills were passed overwhelmingly with the participation of seven of the eight political parties. “The reason only the PPP opposes the four broadcasting bills is clear. It’s because President Yoon wants to fully control public broadcasters,” Park added.
The presidential office expressed disappointment over the main opposition party’s unilateral move to pass the four bills. “We express concerns that there is no social consensus or agreement between the ruling and opposition parties regarding the broadcasting bills,” a senior presidential office official said on condition of anonymity.
On Tuesday, Yoon asked the Assembly to send a confirmation hearing report for Lee Jin-sook, who has been nominated to lead the KCC. This came a day after the Assembly's Science, ICT, Broadcasting, and Communications Committee failed to adopt a report for Lee due to objections from the DPK. If the Assembly refuses to send the report by Tuesday, Yoon will be able to push ahead with appointing her as the new chief of the KCC.
Last week, Lee underwent a three-day confirmation hearing and faced an onslaught of attacks by the DPK, which threatened to impeach her if she takes office.