On the 25th, President Yoon Seok-yeol approved the appointment of Lee Dong-gwan as chairman of the Korea Communications Commission. At the confirmation hearing on the 18th, Lee Dong-kwan, then candidate for the Korea Communications Commission, is attending and answering questions from lawmakers. [사진=유대길 기자 dbeorlf123@ajunews.com]
As President Yoon Seok-yeol approved the appointment of Lee Dong-gwan as chairman of the Korea Communications Commission on the 25th, it is expected that Lee will begin his duties in earnest from September. It is expected to speed up the formation of the 6th member of the Korea Communications Commission, who will carry out the work of the Korea Communications Commission together with Chairman Lee, pending pending issues in the telecommunications field since the inauguration of the government, and policy to secure fairness in portal news, which is a national task.
The Korea Communications Commission (KCC) is a central administrative agency that oversees broadcasting and communication media market research and related policies. After the launch of the Yoon Seok-yeol administration, the Korea Communications Commission has been criticized for not fulfilling its role, such as establishing policies and revising laws that should be done in line with industry and market changes, due to conflicts with former Korea Communications Commission Chairman Han Sang-hyuk, who was appointed during the Moon Jae-in administration. Since the dismissal of former chairman Han in May, a plenary meeting centered on standing committee members has been held until this month, where issues mainly focused on broadcasting issues such as terrestrial and comprehensive channels related to politics were dealt with. It was unable to deal with issues related to communication and portals that are closely related to people’s livelihoods and industries such as media consumers and companies.
The KCC under the Lee Dong-gwan system is expected to focus on ‘strengthening public broadcasting management and supervision’, a national task of the Yoon government in the early days of its inauguration. Following the reorganization of the board of directors of public broadcasters such as the Korea Broadcasting Corporation (KBS), which took place under the acting system of former chairman Kim Hyo-jae, it is expected that some directors will be appointed and dismissed from the board of directors of the Broadcasting Culture Promotion Association and the Korea Educational Broadcasting System (EBS), which are the major shareholders of MBC. With major terrestrial broadcasters re-licensing review scheduled for KBS 2TV, KBS UHD 1·2, MBC UHD, SBS DTV and UHD, and 13 local MBCs in December, public responsibility-related screening and evaluation, management rationalization and structural reform evaluation are expected to be strengthened do. On the other hand, in the field of private broadcasting, the possibility of re-examination and re-permission deregulation is predicted.
Fairness and transparency of portal news are also a priority for the government. Among the 120 national tasks, President Yoon selected portal news transparency as a task for the Korea Communications Commission. To this end, the Korea Communications Commission is currently pushing for revisions to the law to statutoryize the ‘Portal News Affiliation Evaluation Committee’ (hereinafter referred to as the ‘Company’), which is in charge of reviewing portal news entry and exit, and the ‘Algorithm Transparency Committee’, which verifies the standards for arranging and exposure of portal news articles. in progress It is expected that the institutionalization of the judicial review committee will increase the transparency of the screening process and reduce concerns about the spread of fake news. In addition, in relation to the suspicion that there was artificial intervention in the Naver News search algorithm last month, it started to check the actual situation to see if there was a violation of prohibited acts under the Telecommunications Business Act.
On the 1st of this month, during the preparation for the confirmation hearing, Chairman Lee went to work at an office near the Gwacheon Government Complex and met with reporters, saying, “We do not refer to the newspapers or broadcasts of the Communist Party as the media, which are skillful in propaganda and agitation. It is called a bronchus because it conveys arguments. The press, which enjoys freedom of speech, must report responsibly.” Even at the personnel hearing held on the 18th, he said, “We will come up with measures to improve the law and system to increase reliability and transparency by reflecting the situation in which most information is provided through portals.” We will strengthen user protection from illegal information.”
The mobile communication industry is also closely watching the possibility of revising the ‘Mobile Communication Device Distribution Structure Improvement Act’, abbreviated to the ‘Dantong Act’. It is observed that as one of the measures for the KCC to take care of the people’s livelihood, it is possible to promote a policy to alleviate the burden of mobile communication consumers by lowering the price of terminals in the telecommunications field. If a telecommunications company sells mobile phone devices along with communication lines on an installment basis and announces the line fee and device price together, it can create an illusion that ‘communication fee’ is expensive because of the expensive device price. At the personnel hearing, Chairman Lee said, “We agree that the price of the terminal should be lowered and will review various methods.”
It is also a task to fully form the 6th committee to handle the committee’s affairs with Chairman Lee. In the 5th Korea Communications Commission, the terms of the former Acting Commissioner Kim Hyo-jae and Kim Hyun, who were permanent members, expired on the 23rd, and on March 30th, former Vice Chairman Ahn Hyung-hwan also stepped down due to the expiration of his term, but a successor was not appointed. The power of the people, the ruling party, recommended former Daejeon MBC president Lee Jin-sook as a candidate for a member, and the opposition Democratic Party recommended former member of the National Assembly Choi Min-hee as the successor to Ahn in March, but the president is not appointing it. The one remaining seat must also be recommended and appointed by the opposition party.
The KCC is composed of and operated by 5 members including the chairperson. The president appoints the chairperson and two standing members, and if the ruling party recommends one standing member and the opposition party recommends two standing members, the president appoints them. Currently, 3 out of 5 members are vacant. Chairman Lee, who was appointed this time, and Lee Sang-in, who was appointed last May, are expected to carry out the tasks of the committee first. Legally, two standing members can convene a general meeting of the Korea Communications Commission and vote on the agenda. It is known that Chairman Lee will convene a plenary meeting immediately after the inauguration ceremony on the 28th to decide on agendas such as the appointment of a substitute director of the public broadcasting board, and also attend the cabinet meeting on September 9th.
Reporter Information Lim Min-cheol imc@ajunews.com
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