SEOUL, – The Constitutional Court on Thursday ruled in favor of the main opposition Democratic Party’s (DP) unilateral move in April to present three broadcasting bills to a National Assembly plenary session, rejecting a petition from the ruling People Power Party (PPP).
The DP unilaterally passed the three bills — amendments to the Broadcasting Act, the Foundation for Broadcast Culture Act and the Korea Educational Broadcasting System Act, which are all intended to reform the governance structure of the nation’s public broadcast media, at the Assembly’s Science, Technology, Broadcasting and Communications Committee on March 21. DP lawmakers then voted for referring the amendments directly to a plenary vote during a plenary session on April 27, which was boycotted by the PPP.
The DP’s move came after the Assembly’s Legislation and Judiciary Committee chaired by PPP lawmaker Kim Do-eup had failed to process the bills for more than two months. The National Assembly Act stipulates that if a bill is pending in the Legislation and Judiciary Committee for more than 60 days without reason, respective standing committees can request direct referral of the bill to a plenary vote with the approval of more than three-fifths of the members.
Six PPP members on the legislation committee filed a petition with the Constitutional Court, arguing that their rights to review the three broadcasting bills were violated by the DP’s direct referral of them because they were reviewing as normal whether the bills comply with the Constitution and the legal system.
Dismissing the petition, the court said the 60-day review period had expired for the bills while the legislation committee was conducting a policy review of the bills’ contents beyond its rights for review.
The PPP claims that the broadcasting bills will only increase the presence of progressive figures on the boards of public broadcasters, whereas the DP says they will prevent political influence in the appointment of the heads of public broadcasters.
The Constitutional Court also rejected the PPP’s separate petition against the DP’s direct referral of a pro-labor bill to a parliamentary plenary vote, citing similar reasons as in the case for the broadcasting bills.
The bill, dubbed the “yellow envelop bill,” guarantees the bargaining rights of indirectly employed workers and prohibits litigation for damages and provisional seizures against unionized workers with the aim of suppressing their strikes. This could make it difficult for employers to file complaints against illegal strikes by their workers and exempt laborers from liability for participating in illegal strikes.
The court said it appears that the legislation committee was delaying the review process for the yellow envelop bill by repeating procedures that were difficult to be considered necessary.
The DP, which controls a majority in the 300-member National Assembly, has vowed to pass the yellow envelop bill and the three broadcasting bills in a plenary session slated for Nov. 9.
Source: Yonhap News Agency