'Fake news' bill's passage delayed in National Assembly

National Assembly Speaker Park Byeong-seug, center, poses with floor leaders of the two major parties, Rep. Kim Gi-hyeon of the main opposition People Power Party, left, and Rep. Yun Ho-jung of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea, Wednesday, to announce that they decided to delay a plenary meeting supposed to be held on the day to Aug. 30. Yonhap

By Jung Da-min

The National Assembly has delayed a plenary session slated for Wednesday, during which the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) planned to approve a bill aimed at imposing punitive damages for media outlets producing “fake news.” The DPK and the main opposition People Power Party (PPP) agreed to hold the plenary session on Aug. 30.

The postponement was due to a procedural problem over the controversial bill. The DPK pledges to push ahead with its passage at the next plenary meeting, while opposition parties vow to prevent it through all possible means.

National Assembly Speaker Park Byeong-seug announced the delay at around 10 a.m., about six hours after the DPK members of the Assembly's Legislation and Judiciary Committee approved the revision bill to the Act on Press Arbitration. The committee started its discussion on Tuesday but the meeting ran overnight into Wednesday morning, and the endorsement came after the PPP members left the meeting room in protest.

The decision to put off the plenary session came after Park accepted PPP floor leader Rep. Kim Gi-hyeon's complaint that the DPK was ignoring legal procedures. According to the National Assembly Act, a bill passed at the Legislation and Judiciary Committee can only be introduced in a plenary session at least one day after the judiciary committee's passage of it.

Even if the plenary meeting is held on Aug. 30 as agreed, a big clash between the two major parties is expected to take place as the PPP, which boycotted relevant committee meetings, is now planning to attempt a filibuster to block the vote on the bill at the next plenary session. The DPK, however, maintains a supermajority in the National Assembly and can block any filibuster.

As criticism over the DPK's passage of the bill has grown from opposition parties and civil organizations, the DPK has proposed to have a discussion session during the plenary meeting, in which all lawmakers of the National Assembly can participate and review the bill.

Rep. Han Jun-ho, a spokesperson of the DPK said, “A filibuster is a battle between a spear and a shield. … It would be better to hold a plenary committee session in which lawmakers could propose ideas to revise the bill to reach an agreement.”

Regarding the matter, PPP spokesman Rep. Kang Min-guk said that PPP members would discuss the proposal.

Ever since the DPK introduced the revision bill, controversy grew as critics are claiming the ruling bloc could use the revised law to block media criticism of the government and ruling party members. The criticism is continuing even after the DPK made some changes to the original bill, such as excluding high-ranking government officials and executives of major companies from those who could seek punitive damages against the media, in response to concerns that the initial version of the bill could hamper the media's role in criticizing political or economic power.