Clash Over 'Recusal of Lee Jin-sook' Disrupts Parliamentary Audit of Science and ICT Committee

[Anchor]

Today (October 16), the parliamentary audit by the National Assembly's Science, ICT, Broadcasting and Communications Committee was derailed as the ruling and opposition parties clashed over the motion passed earlier by the Democratic Party to recuse Rep. Lee Jin-sook of the People Power Party. The Democratic Party argued that having Rep. Lee, who served as head of the Korea Communications Commission under the Yoon Suk Yeol administration, participate in the audit of public broadcasters constitutes a conflict of interest, while the People Power Party pushed back, asserting it infringes upon a lawmaker's right to question.

Reporter Kim Bo-mi reports.

[Reporter]

The National Assembly Science, ICT, Broadcasting and Communications Committee held its parliamentary audit targeting KBS and the Foundation for Broadcast Culture, the majority shareholder of MBC.

From the very beginning, proceedings were derailed over the issue of Rep. Lee Jin-sook of the People Power Party participating in the audit.

[Lee Ju-hee / Democratic Party Lawmaker: We are supposed to be auditing whether the hasty decisions (under the KCC's two-member structure), which the courts have repeatedly ruled unlawful, undermined public broadcasting, yet the very person who made those decisions is....]

[Lee Jin-sook / People Power Party Lawmaker: It was the Democratic Party-led National Assembly that created the two-member system.]

On October 12, the Democratic Party passed a recusal motion to exclude Rep. Lee from the audit, claiming that her participation in audits on broadcasting issues concerning public broadcasters constitutes a conflict of interest since she served as head of the Korea Communications Commission under the Yoon Suk Yeol administration.

The Democratic Party argues that it is unfair for Rep. Lee, who was involved in appointing board members for public broadcasters under the highly controversial "two-member KCC structure," to conduct a self-audit on related issues during this parliamentary audit.

[Song Ki-hun / Chairman of the National Assembly Science, ICT, Broadcasting and Communications Committee: Barring any other circumstances, I will not give Rep. Lee Jin-sook the floor today.]

[Lee Jin-sook / People Power Party Lawmaker: I say once again that this is "tyranny of the majority, abuse by the majority, and a majority dictatorship."]

The People Power Party defended Rep. Lee, arguing that the Democratic Party is making arbitrary judgments regarding conflicts of interest.

[Choi Hyung-du / People Power Party Lawmaker: Even though the majority party passed such a resolution, there is no way to prevent Committee Member Lee Jin-sook from participating in this meeting. Nor should she be blocked.]

The controversy over "Rep. Lee Jin-sook's recusal from the parliamentary audit" is expected to flare up again during the comprehensive audit of the Broadcasting and Media Communications Commission on October 22.

(Video by Lee Seung-hwan and Shin Dong-hwan | Video Editing by Lee Seung-jin)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.