President Yoon casts 19th veto of term, nixing contentious media bills

President Yoon Suk Yeol on Monday approved a Cabinet motion demanding that the National Assembly reconsider four controversial bills intended to overhaul governance of the country's public broadcasters.

President Yoon walks down a corridor inside the presidential office in Yongsan District, central Seoul, on Monday. [JOINT PRESS CORPS]

President Yoon Suk Yeol on Monday approved a Cabinet motion demanding that the National Assembly reconsider four controversial bills intended to overhaul governance of the country's public broadcasters.

The move marks Yoon’s 19th veto since taking office.

In a press release, the presidential office argued Yoon’s veto was “unavoidable” because the bills were passed without “social consensus to ensure broadcasters serve as fair and objective tools for society.”

The liberal Democratic Party (DP) railroaded the four bills through the National Assembly earlier in the month in alliance with other minor liberal parties.

Three of the bills increase the number of board directors at public broadcasters KBS, MBC and EBS, while one requires binding resolutions issued by the Korea Communications Commission (KCC) to have been voted on by four of the commission’s five standing members, up from the current two.

The KCC not only serves as the state media watchdog, but also appoints directors for the foundation that controls MBC and nominates candidates for the president to sit on the board of KBS.

The DP has argued the changes are necessary to prevent Yoon’s appointees on the KCC from naming directors who are loyal to the government, but the conservative People Power Party (PPP) and the Yoon administration have argued the bills would serve to increase the number of liberal-minded officials at public broadcasters.

Given that the PPP holds 108 seats in the 300-member National Assembly, the bills are unlikely to garner support from the requisite two-thirds of lawmakers to override the president’s veto.

While the bill affecting the KCC was introduced during the current 22nd National Assembly, three bills targeting governance at KBS, MBC and EBS were passed by the DP-controlled 21st National Assembly last year but vetoed by the president.

BY MICHAEL LEE [lee.junhyuk@joongang.co.kr]