KOREA: Park adds to GNP's media bill woes

Former Grand National Party leader disagrees with current media bills' proposal for cross-media ownership, prefers stricter regulation

The Korea Herald
Monday, July 20, 2009

By Cho Ji-hyun

The ruling Grand National Party's push to railroad through disputed media bills hit an unexpected stumbling block yesterday as a former party leader voiced her objection to the move.

The party earlier pledged to pass the bills at a parliamentary session today by having National Assembly Speaker Kim Hyong-o invoke his authority to call a vote on them unless a compromise was reached with the main opposition Democratic Party by the midnight.

"If I attend (the voting session), it would be to vote against the bills," Rep. Park Geun-hye, former GNP chairwoman, was quoted by an aide as saying.

Park's remarks clouded the prospect of the ruling party ramming through the bills designed to tear down the barrier to cross-ownership of print media and television stations as she heads one of the rival factions within the GNP which controls 169 seats in the 299-member unicameral parliament.

She had been striking a different tone with the party mainstreamers close to President Lee Myung-bak over the issue of media reform bills, over which the GNP and the DP have wrangled for the past eight months. She proposed a compromise earlier this month, which would put stricter regulation on a company's share of the media market.

Park's remarks emboldened the opposition party in its move to block the passage of the bills, which it argues are being pushed by the ruling camp's desire to control the media and will only benefit the country's major conservative newspapers and large businesses.

DP spokesman Noh Young-min hailed the former GNP leader's stance, saying, "Park has made a difficult decision by following the public's will."

Later in the day, DP Chairman Chung Sye-kyun went on hunger strike at his office at the Assembly, requesting a meeting with President Lee to discuss the media bills and other pending issues.

"The hunger strike will continue until the National Assembly speaker makes it clear not to invoke his authority to put the bills on a vote," said a DP official. The main opposition party, which holds 84 parliamentary seats, has vowed to mobilize all possible means to block the GNP from unilaterally passing the bills.

Park's remarks apparently bewildered the GNP leadership who are running against time as the ongoing extraordinary parliamentary session will end on July 25. The next regular session will open in September.

The ruling party earlier yesterday set the midnight as the "final deadline" for negotiations with the opposition party.

"Today (Sunday) is the deadline for negotiations," GNP floor leader Ahn Sang-soo said during a meeting of party lawmakers at the National Assembly.

Ahn pledged to ask the Assembly speaker, a former GNP lawmaker, to invoke his authority to call a vote on the bills unless a compromise is reached by the deadline.

"Whether a deal (with the opposition party) is reached or not, I will make every effort to handle the media bills tomorrow. We can't wait indefinitely." Ahn said. "I would like to put an end to the situation, concluding the eight months of tedious strife."

More than 50 GNP lawmakers rushed onto the floor of the National Assembly's main chamber and briefly occupied the speaker's seat yesterday morning. GNP floor leader Ahn later said the ruling party legislators took the move to pre-empt DP lawmakers from seizing the speaker's seat to block the voting on the bills.

Reflecting the suspicion the rival parties have toward each other, their lawmakers continued occupying parts of the main chamber in preparation for a possible move by the other side to seize the speaker's seat.

Date Posted: 7/20/2009