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| 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, right, show a document of their latest agreement for further discussing the ruling party's contentious "fake news" bill, Tuesday, after their meeting organized by National Assembly Speaker Park Byeong-seug, center, at the National Assembly in Seoul. The rival parties agreed to form an eight-member consultative body to discuss details of the bill and to introduce the bill at a National Assembly plenary session scheduled for Sept. 27. Yonhap |
Ruling party concedes in face of strong criticism home and abroad
By Jung Da-min
The liberal ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) and conservative main opposition People Power Party (PPP) agreed, Tuesday, to create an eight-member consultative body composed of lawmakers and media experts to review the DPK-pushed "fake news" bill amid strong resistance from media industry groups and opposition lawmakers.
In addition, the rival parties also concurred on postponing the introduction of the controversial bill aimed at increasing punitive damages on media outlets producing "fake news" to the National Assembly plenary session to be held on Sept. 27.
The decision came at a meeting between floor leaders of the two major parties, Rep. Kim Gi-hyeon of the PPP and Rep. Yun Ho-jung of the DPK, Tuesday, organized by National Assembly Speaker Park Byeong-seug, after previous attempts failed to reach an agreement on the issue.
In their latest meeting, the floor leaders of the parties agreed to create an eight-member consultative body in which four lawmakers, two each from the DPK and the PPP, and four media experts, with both parties recommending two each, will discuss details of the DPK's revision bill to the Act on Press Arbitration.
Before agreeing to create the joint consultative body with the PPP, the supermajority DPK had been seeking to railroad the bill at the Assembly, despite strong backlash not just from the PPP but from other opposition parties, civic groups and media organizations.
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| A poster jointly made by seven media-related organizations ― Korean Association of Newspapers, Journalists Association of Korea, Korea News Editors' Association, Korea Journalists' Club, Kwanhun Club, Korea Internet Newspaper Association and Korea Woman Journalists Association ― to protest the ruling Democratic Party of Korea's push to revise a law allowing punitive damages on media outlets or reporters producing 'fake news.' The organizations view the bill as an attempt to prevent reporting critical of those in political and economic power. |
On Aug. 19, nine DPK members in the 16-member National Assembly Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee endorsed the bill at a plenary committee meeting boycotted by PPP members. Then on Aug. 25, the Assembly's Legislation and Judiciary Committee approved the bill early in the morning, the day after starting its discussion, which ran overnight and led to the PPP members leaving the meeting room in protest.
Then the Assembly's 390th plenary session, initially scheduled to be held Aug. 25, was delayed to Aug. 30 over the parties' discord on the bill and a procedural problem, as a bill passed at the Legislation and Judiciary Committee can only be introduced in a plenary session of the Assembly at least a day after the judiciary committee's passage of it, according to the National Assembly Act.
But the Aug. 30 plenary session was again delayed to Tuesday this week due to the parties' conflicts over the bill. The plenary session was held Tuesday without introducing the contentious bill.
The ruling party's delay on pushing ahead with the bill seems to be due to growing criticism against the bill here and overseas, with international media organizations including the Seoul Foreign Correspondents' Club (SFCC), the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA) also expressing concerns over the bill which they said could undermine freedom of expression.
President Moon Jae-in, who had long remained silent on the matter, issued a message on it for the first time, after the parties agreed on the consultative body, saying he welcomes the parties' decision to review the bill.
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| Cheong Wa Dae spokeswoman Park Kyung-mee speaks during a press briefing at the presidential office, Tuesday, to deliver President Moon Jae-in's message that the President welcomes the country's two major parties' agreement to form a consultative body to review details of the ruling party's contentious "fake news" bill. Yonhap |
"Freedom of the press is a pillar of democracy and should be specially protected along with the people's right to know. Thus, relevant laws or systems should be closely reviewed to prevent any possible abuse," Cheong Wa Dae spokeswoman Park Kyung-mee quoted Moon as saying.
"On the other hand, the protection of victims of malicious false reports or fake news is also important. It is necessary to promptly correct misinformation and help victims to completely recover from psychological, material and social damage. In addition, special efforts by the media to rectify the situation are also needed."
The President called on the parties to form a social consensus through this opportunity on protecting both freedom of expression and victims of fake news.
Discussions to regulate misinformation that undermines the public interest had started earlier in political circles and among members of the public, but the timing of the ruling party's push for the bill raised eyebrows among critics who said the party was hurrying to pass the bill before handing the chairperson posts of some Assembly committees including the culture committee and the judiciary committee to the PPP.
The ruling party took all the chairperson posts of 18 National Assembly committees after winning a majority in legislative elections last year, but agreed later to hand over the top posts of seven committees, including the culture committee and the Special Committee on Budget and Accounts, to the PPP.
The chairperson of the judiciary committee, which is considered one of the two most powerful National Assembly committees in terms of state administration along with the budget committee, will be handed over to the PPP in June next year, as the parties agreed to have the posts for equal periods, two years for each party during the four-year term of the 21st National Assembly.
