hankyoreh

Lee Jae-myung, the leader of the top opposition Democratic Party, heads into a meeting of his party’s Supreme Council on Nov. 13 at the National Assembly. (Kim Bong-kyu/The Hankyoreh)

On Monday, Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung called on President Yoon Suk-yeol to sign off on the broadcasting bills that recently passed at the National Assembly “in order to clear the bad name the administration has garnered from gagging the press, refusals, and mismatched words and actions.”

During a meeting of the Democratic Party’s top leadership that took place at the National Assembly Monday morning, Lee urged the administration to put a stop to its “politics of rejection” characterized by “rejection of popular sentiment, rejection of the public, rejection of the National Assembly, overuse of vetoes, and the appointment of figures to government positions despite their outstanding hearing reports.”

Lee continued, “The New York Times reported that Yoon’s fervor for dominating the press is reminiscent of military dictatorships of South Korea,” pointing out that the outlet “criticized the prosecutors’ intimidation and investigation of media critical to the administration.”

He went on, “The promulgation of the three broadcasting bills the National Assembly passed is the last opportunity for the international disgrace that is the Yoon administration to rectify its ill-advised view of the press and recover press freedom,” adding, “If, by any chance, the president rejects the legislation of the three broadcasting bills despite having called press freedom the basis of a democratic society as a [presidential] candidate, his administration would be no different from dictatorships of the past that consolidated the press and purged journalists while claiming to be a believer of press freedom.”

On Friday, the New York Times put out a detailed report on the special investigation team the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office set up to investigate the manipulation of public opinion during the presidential election by probing a media outlet that published articles critical of the government.

“[Yoon] should stop his politics of mismatched words and actions, telling the public he would change upon their fierce judgment while exercising vetoes behind their back,” Lee said. “[Yoon] should accept the existence of [the opposition] by cooperating and working together.”

By Kang Jae-gu, staff reporter

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