Parliament passes four contentious broadcasting bills amid protest from ruling party


The National Assembly in Seoul held a vote on the revision to the Korea Educational Broadcasting System Act, which was the last of four contentious broadcasting bills aimed at reducing government influence over public broadcasters. The main opposition Democratic Party led the bill's passage in a 189-0 vote after ending a 24-hour filibuster by the ruling People Power Party. The revision aims to increase the number of board directors at public broadcaster EBS from nine to 21. With this vote, all four broadcasting bills have passed through the National Assembly, intended to reform the governance structure of the nation's public broadcast media by weakening the government and National Assembly's power to name board directors. The ruling party's filibuster was ended by a motion to forcefully end it, leading to the passage of the bill by the opposition-controlled National Assembly. The bills are intended to prevent political influence in the appointment of heads of public broadcasters and have been the subject of contention between the ruling and opposition parties. Last year, President Yoon Suk Yeol vetoed three broadcasting bills after they were passed by the opposition-controlled parliament, and the ruling People Power Party is expected to call on him to exercise his veto rights again over the four broadcasting bills.


Previous Post Next Post