Assembly normalized after boycott over TV fee

By Lee Tae-hoon

The National Assembly was normalized Tuesday after a half-day boycott by opposition lawmakers in protest against the ruling party’s attempt to increase the TV license fees for KBS.

Earlier in the day, lawmakers of the main opposition Democratic Party (DP) boycotted the June extraordinary parliamentary session over the governing Grand National Party’s (GNP) railroading a bill to hike the fee from 2,500 won ($2.31) to 3,500 won per month at a parliamentary sub-committee.

“The government must promise to guarantee the political neutrality of KBS as a precondition to increase the subscription fee,” said Kim Jin-pyo, floor leader of the main opposition Democratic Party (DP). “Otherwise, the June session will not be normalized.”

However, the DP withdrew its plan to walk away from the Assembly after Kim held a meeting with his counterpart, GNP floor leader Hwang Woo-yeo, in the afternoon.

Sources say Rep. Hwang expressed an apology for his party’s failure to deliberate the sensitive matter in depth with DP lawmakers before putting it to a vote and promised to discuss the issue again at a standing committee level.

Kim and Hwang had agreed to deliberate on the free trade agreement with the United States, North Korean human rights bill and defense reform bill during an ad-hoc session this month.

DP lawmakers claimed that the GNP unilaterally approved the bill at a sub-committee of the National Assembly Culture, Sports, Tourism, Broadcasting and Communications Committee on Monday without proper deliberations.

The liberal legislators said they boycotted the Assembly on fears that GNP lawmakers may unilaterally pass the bill in a vote at a plenary session of the standing committee without further discussions.

DP Chairman Sohn Hak-kyu also said his party would halt parliamentary discussions unless the ruling GNP and the government withdraw the proposal to increase the license fee.

“The GNP and government must withdraw the bill and start again from the start,” he said. “What has been passed at the sub-committee should be completely nullified if they wish to run the National Assembly through rational dialogue.”

DP lawmakers claimed that Rep. Han Sun-kyo of the GNP, chairman of the eight-member sub-committee, put it to a vote without consent from three DP lawmakers at Monday’s sub-panel session.

Four GNP lawmakers, including Han and Kim Chang-su, a lawmaker of the minor opposition Liberty Forward Party, participated in the vote. Three DP lawmakers boycotted it.

In response to the DP’s resistance, GNP floor leader Hwang pledged that his party would fully cooperate with the DP to discuss the matter at the plenary session of the Assembly committee.

“If the DP has something to say about the sub-panel’s decision, they should come forward and discuss the matter at the plenary session,” Rep. Hwang said.

If the bill is approved at the plenary session, it will be sent to the Assembly Judiciary Committee before a vote in a full session.

The license fee is included in electricity bills and automatically collected from every household. The government and GNP claim that a rise is necessary as the charge has remained at 2,500 won since 1981 and to reduce the broadcaster’s dependence on advertising revenue.

Under the current broadcasting law, state-run public broadcaster KBS is entitled to collect the monthly mandatory subscription fee for each TV set.