KCC chief booted from Cabinet meetings for 'politically biased remarks'

President Lee Jae Myung has decided to exclude Korea Communications Commission Chairperson Lee Jin-sook from future Cabinet meetings based on a conclusion by the Board of Audit and Inspection that found she made "politically biased remarks."

Korea Communications Commission Chairperson Lee Jin-sook drinks water during a full session of the Science, ICT, Broadcasting and Communications Committee at the National Assembly in central Seoul on July 7. [LIM HYUN-DONG]

President Lee Jae Myung has decided to exclude Korea Communications Commission (KCC) Chairperson Lee Jin-sook from future Cabinet meetings.

“The current KCC chairperson will not be present at Cabinet meetings starting next week,” presidential spokesperson Kang Yu-jung said during a briefing Wednesday.

“The Board of Audit and Inspection [BAI] recently concluded that Chairperson Lee made politically biased remarks in violation of the State Public Officials Act, which prohibits civil servants from engaging in political activity,” said Kang. “Due to concerns that such conduct could undermine public trust in the civil service, the BAI issued a warning.”

“Despite this, the chairperson continued to express her personal political views during Cabinet meetings and shared them on her personal social media account, repeatedly breaching the neutrality expected of a public servant,” Kang said.

She explained that presidential chief of staff Kang Hoon-sik personally conveyed to the president Wednesday morning that Chairperson Lee’s attendance at Cabinet meetings was inappropriate, and that the decision to exclude her followed.

The move comes after Chairperson Lee told the National Assembly’s Science, ICT, Broadcasting and Communications Committee on Monday that “President Lee instructed me to draft an independent bill to revise the Broadcasting Act.”

“Although Chairperson Lee used the word ‘instruction,’ the president merely inquired about her opinion — it was closer to seeking her input than issuing a directive," said spokesperson Kang.

Korea Communications Commission chairperson Lee Jin-sook speaks at a press briefing at the government complex in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi, on March 18. [NEWS1]

“The Cabinet is a forum for governmental affairs,” said President Lee, criticizing the remarks in Tuesday’s Cabinet meeting. “It is inappropriate to distort confidential discussions for personal political purposes.”

“While it is generally appropriate not to disclose remarks made in closed-door meetings, I felt compelled to correct media reports that distorted the facts,” Chairperson Lee wrote Wednesday on Facebook. “I was indeed instructed by the president to prepare a revision to the Broadcasting Act.”

When asked during the morning briefing about Chairperson Lee’s continued claim that the president did indeed give an order, Kang responded, “If she cannot distinguish between an ‘instruction’ and an ‘opinion,’ I personally believe she is unfit to participate in Cabinet discussions.”

Chairperson Lee has helmed the KCC since July 31 last year. She became widely known as the country’s first female war correspondent by reporting from the field during the 1990-91 Gulf War and the Iraq War that began in 2003.

Translated from the JoongAng Ilbo using generative AI and edited by Korea JoongAng Daily staff. BY JEONG HYE-JEONG [kim.minyoung5@joongang.co.kr]