Opposition lawmakers occupy committee room to thwart bill’s passage


Amid the elevating conflicts over the state-run broadcaster KBS’ fee hike, opposition lawmakers boycotted the parliamentary culture committee’s general meeting on Tuesday in order to stop the ruling party from passing the related bills.

The meeting was to start at 2 p.m. but lawmakers of the main opposition Democratic Party took over the meeting room and the chairperson’s seat at 1:30 p.m., thus delaying the meeting.

“The Grand National Party may not dodge the public’s blame, should it force the fee hike on the people without their general consent,” said the party floor leader Kim Jin-pyo.

“We urge the GNP to take sufficient time in July and August before resuming the discussion in the September session.”

The DP earlier claimed that KBS should first prove its political neutrality and fair management processes before bringing up the fee raise.

“Our party agreed to hold further debate sessions on the issue, not to pass the bill,” said the DP spokesperson last week, once again renewing the pledge to veto the fee rise unless the broadcaster meets the required preconditions.

“The increase of a public broadcaster’s subscription fee is a de facto semi-compulsory move, similar to a tax hike, and there is no reason to force such burden on the people without holding sufficient talks.”

The GNP, on the other hand, defended the broadcaster’s claim that the raise is inevitable to fulfill its proper role as a public network. The monthly viewing fee has been fixed as 2,500 won ($2.30) for the past 30 years.

Sharp conflicts were witnessed in other committee meetings as well.

The parliamentary education committee, too, held its general meeting, which is to be the last one of the June provisional session, but ended abruptly without reaching an agreement over the hot issue of cutting university tuition fees.

The Grand National Party and the Democratic Party mostly disagreed over who is responsible for the discussion breakup and whether or not to draw a conclusion on the issue by next month.

“Never has a GNP lawmaker attended any street protests for tuition cuts over the past weeks,” said DP lawmaker An Min-suk, accusing the ruling party of lacking a sense of commitment on the matter.

Suh Sang-kee of the GNP, however, refuted the claim.

“The tuition fee issue was brought up by the GNP last month, and our lawmakers even pledged to give up the July recess period, if necessary, in order to continue the related talks,” he said.

The parties were also divided on the timeline.

“We only have less than two days left until the June session ends and none of the tuition cut bills are likely to pass the assembly by then,” said Rep. Kim Young-jin of the DP.

“Parties should first agree on a deadline or else the discussion will drag along further.”

As the quarrel continued, the committee chairperson broke up the meeting.

In the legislation and judiciary committee meeting, the DP vetoed the North Korean human rights bill, which has been pending for the past 14 months.

Though parties agreed last month to refer the corresponding bill to the committee, they failed to reach an agreement over the definition and range of humanitarian aid in the bill.

The National Assembly’s June provisional session is to officially end on Thursday.

By Bae Hyun-jung (tellme@heraldcorp.com)