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The National Assembly holds a plenary session in western Seoul on Thursday. (Yonhap) |
The opposition-controlled National Assembly passed one of the four contentious broadcasting bills aimed at reducing the government's influence over public broadcasters Friday, with lawmakers of the ruling party leaving in protest.
The passage followed the main opposition Democratic Party ending the ruling People Power Party's filibuster during a plenary session after 24 hours.
The bill was then put to a vote and passed in a 183-0 vote, in which only lawmakers from opposition parties cast ballots.
The revision to the act on the establishment of the Korea Communications Commission calls for increasing the number of standing members required to pass a resolution from the current two to four.
The DP proposed the bill last month to stop the originally five-member commission from being operated by only two members appointed by the president, as is currently the case.
With the authority to appoint directors for public broadcasters, such as MBC and KBS, the commission can exert significant influence over their operation and management.
The Democratic Party on Thursday submitted a request to end the filibuster with the consent of its 170 lawmakers, allowing the bill to be put to a vote right after the filibuster began.
A filibuster involves lawmakers holding the floor for extended periods as a way to prevent a parliamentary vote or delay the passage of a bill. Under the National Assembly Act, a filibuster can be stopped after 24 hours if at least three-fifths of all parliament members, or 180 lawmakers, consent to it.
The party is expected to push ahead with the passage of the three remaining contentious broadcasting bills at parliamentary plenary sessions.
The three bills -- amendments to the Broadcasting Act, the Foundation for Broadcast Culture Act and the Korea Educational Broadcasting System Act -- are all 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 People Power Party has claimed that the broadcasting bills will only increase the presence of progressive figures on the boards of public broadcasters, while the Democratic Party has said they will prevent political influence in the appointment of the heads of public broadcasters.
On Friday, Assembly Speaker Woo Won-shik tabled the revision to the Broadcasting Act immediately after the passage of the revision to the act on the establishment of the Korea Communications Commission upon the DP's request.
In response, the People Power Party has staged another round of filibusters.
Last year, President Yoon Suk Yeol vetoed the three broadcasting bills, excluding the revision to the act on the establishment of the Korea Communications Commission, after they were passed by the opposition-controlled parliament.
