DP to propose impeachment motion against new broadcasting watchdog chief

▲ Lee Jin-sook (C), the new head of the Korea Communications Commission, arrives for work at her office in Gwacheon, south of Seoul, on July 31, 2024. (Yonhap)

broadcasting watchdog chief-impeachment

DP to propose impeachment motion against new broadcasting watchdog chief

SEOUL, July 31 (Yonhap) -- The main opposition Democratic Party (DP) decided Wednesday to propose a motion to impeach the newly appointed broadcasting watchdog chief, Lee Jin-sook, just hours after she took office, officials said.

Lee took office as chairperson of the Korea Communications Commission (KCC) earlier in the day and was to hold a meeting of the KCC's standing committee to appoint new directors at the Foundation for Broadcast Culture, the major shareholder of MBC TV station.

The directors of the foundation hold the key to the appointment of the new president at MBC.

Lee has to convene the meeting only with Kim Tae-gyu, a newly appointed member of the KCC's standing committee, and the DP claims that it is against the law for the KCC to appoint new directors of the foundation through a meeting attended only by two members of the five-member committee.

The DP said it plans to propose the motion later in the day and report it to a plenary session Thursday.

The five-member KCC standing committee had remained vacant after former chairperson Kim Hong-il and subsequent acting chairperson Lee Sang-in voluntarily resigned after the DP proposed impeachment motions against them.

Even with the appointment of Lee and Kim, three positions of the standing committee remain vacant.

The opposition has accused the former KCC chiefs under the Yoon Suk Yeol administration of unfairly running the watchdog's decision-making standing committee, making decisions with two members while leaving the other three of the five positions vacant.

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