[Digital Daily, Reporter Oh Byung-hoon] “Just give me two minutes for the procedural remarks, just two minutes…”
On the 5th, during the ‘Broadcast Media Communication Governance Reform Public Hearing’ held by the National Assembly’s Science, Technology, Information, Broadcasting and Communications Committee (hereafter referred to as the Committee), Representative Choi Hyung-du made this request for the right to make procedural remarks to Representative Choi Min-hee (Democratic Party of Korea) at the start of the hearing.
Representative Choi Hyung-du commented, “Isn’t today’s public hearing planned to quickly pass the bill after that?” regarding the establishment of the Broadcast Media Communications Committee, adding, “It’s necessary to form related special committees to gather additional opinions.”
In response, Committee Chair Choi Min-hee rejected the request for procedural remarks, stating, “Such discussions involving plans do not concern the contents of today’s public hearing and should be coordinated between the Committee secretaries.”
Later, when given the floor during the subsequent question round, Representative Choi Hyung-du agreed on the necessity of reorganizing the government’s framework but reiterated, “However, issues related to media government organization reform are addressed by multiple standing committees in the National Assembly. Therefore, it should not end in one public hearing, but be resolved through a special committee involving numerous standing committees.”
The bill for the establishment of the Broadcast Media Communications Committee discussed at this public hearing is a consolidated proposal initiated by ruling party members, including Representative Choi Min-hee and Representative Kim Hyun (Democratic Party of Korea). It aims to replace the current Korea Communications Commission (hereafter referred to as KCC) by setting up the Broadcast Media Communications Committee, inheriting KCC’s duties and transferring the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning’s (hereafter referred to as MSIP) responsibilities for pay-TV and communication to this new organization.
The intent is to centralize regulatory and promotion functions related to public broadcasting, pay-TV, and communications industry under one efficient operational framework. Following the public hearing, the ruling party plans to complete the standing committee-level discussions by the end of the month and to expedite the bill through the Legislation and Judiciary Committee and the plenary session. The National Assembly Act mandates that such constitutional bills go through a public hearing, hence the day’s hearing.
In this context, the opposition People’s Power Party’s Committee secretary, Representative Choi Hyung-du, has persistently stressed the need for further discussion. At a prior committee plenary session, he remarked, “It’s inappropriate to treat the establishment of a new government framework as a mere formal public hearing,” advocating for a special committee under either the presidential or prime minister’s office for deeper discussions, and voicing his objection to treating it as a mere formality.
Meanwhile, the public hearing saw participants from the Democratic Party’s requested speakers, including Ko Min-soo, a law professor at Kangneung-Wonju University, Lee Ho-chan, the president of the National Union of Media Workers, and Shin Mi-hee, the executive director of the Citizens Coalition for Democratic Media. In contrast, the speakers requested by the People’s Power Party included Kang Myung-il, the head of MBC’s third union emergency response committee, Kim Jin-wook, a member of the Personal Information Protection Commission, and Lee In-ho, a professor at Chung-Ang University’s School of Law.