Opposition proposes impeachment motion against new broadcasting watchdog chief

Opposition parties on Thursday introduced a parliamentary motion to impeach Korea Communications Commission (KCC) Chairperson Lee Jin-sook, just a day after she took office, claiming she is unqualified as broadcasting watchdog chief.

The motion, introduced by the main opposition Democratic Party (DP) and five other minor parties, was reported to a plenary meeting of the National Assembly, making Lee the fourth KCC chief to face impeachment in less than a year.

By law, the motion should be put to a vote between 24 and 72 hours after it was reported to the Assembly.

If the motion is passed, Lee’s duties will be immediately suspended until the Constitutional Court decides whether to endorse or reject the impeachment. A leadership vacuum in the KCC is expected as this process usually takes a few months.

A senior official from the presidential office said it will keep a close watch on how the vote turns out.

“The vote has not taken place yet. We need to see the outcome,” the official told Yonhap News Agency by phone.

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.

Former KCC Chairman Lee Dong-kwan, who headed the watchdog body before Kim, also resigned shortly before a vote on the impeachment motion against him.

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.

On Wednesday, the new KCC chief convened a meeting with Kim Tae-gyu, a newly appointed member of the KCC’s standing committee, and appointed six new directors at the Foundation for Broadcast Culture, the major shareholder of MBC TV, in a move strongly denounced by the DP.