hankyoreh

chairman of the Culture

The ruling Grand National Party (GNP) has suddenly sent new media-related legislation, the most controversial of the legislation before February’s extraordinary National Assembly session to the committee.

The Democratic Party is saying the move violated procedures and is there fore “completely invalid,” while the National Union of Media Workers says it is going to resume its strike starting February 26.

At 3:49 p.m. February 25, the GNP’s Ko Heung-kil, chairman of the Culture, Sports, Tourism, Broadcasting and Communications Committee made the surprise declaration that he was bringing the no less than twenty two pieces of legislation relating to the broadcast media before the committee.

“As committee chairman, it appears I have no choice but to invoke my authority under Article 77 of the National Assembly Act to bring the twenty two media-related bills before the committee,” said Ko, adjourning the meeting with his gavel after formally announcing the action. The committee chamber was instantly filled with protests from opposition members of the Assembly, with Democratic Party members trying to seize the gavel and GNP members wrestling to keep them from making off with it.

Ko immediately released a statement, in which he said that while sending bills before the committee “is the first step in mutual agreeing to vote” on legislation, “still refusing to have it seen by committee goes against the agreement between the ruling and opposition parties of January 6.” He again cited National Assembly Act Article 77, which covers the topic of “Change of Agenda.”

Democratic Party floor spokesman Cho Jeong-sik, however, claimed Ko’s maneuver did not satisfy the requirements for “change of agenda” in Article 77. He said the bill was distributed to committee members only after the fact, and that there is “no such bill called the ‘Media Act’,” which Ko said he was putting before committee, and that “therefore the move was invalid for not having followed procedures.”

National Assembly Speaker Kim Hyong-o issued a statement later in the day.

“I will be forced to decide matters as Speaker if, as is the case now, the current extraordinary session meets on the floor without there being dialogue and compromise,” he said, proposing that ruling and opposition floor leaders meet in his office on February 26.

Heo Yong-beom, the yet-to-be-confirmed spokesman of the National Assembly, quoted Kim as also saying that he “will be resolute in exercising my authority as the Speaker, entrusted with the normal operation of the National Assembly, from the perspective of the state and the people, as vested in me by the constitution and the law.”

Meanwhile, at the Foreign Affairs, Trade, and Unification Committee the GNP organized a meeting of a legislation review subcommittee and voted to approve the bill to ratify the free trade agreement (FTA) with the United States and send the bill to full committee. Members of the Democratic Party said it was “illegal and invalid” for the bill to ratify to have been put before members in the first place in December, and left the meeting in unison immediately before the subcommittee vote.

The National Union of Media Workers, in response to the GNP’s tactics said it will resume on February 26 a strike it called off on January 6. The decision was made by an emergency union meeting of representatives from member media company unions, after a “rally for a general strike struggle” in front of the National Assembly building later in the day, with approximately 500 members participating.

Please direct questions or comments to [englishhani@hani.co.kr]