PPP slams injunction blocking appointment of new members of MBC's foundation

The conservative People Power Party (PPP) on Tuesday criticized a court's decision to grant an injunction against the appointment of six new members of the foundation that controls public broadcaster MBC as a "stain on the history of the judiciary."

Kwon Tae-sun, chair of the Foundation for Broadcast Culture, speaks at the foundation's headquarters in Mapo District, western Seoul, on Monday. [NEWS1]

The conservative People Power Party (PPP) on Tuesday criticized a court's decision to grant an injunction against the appointment of six new members of the foundation that controls public broadcaster MBC as a "stain on the history of the judiciary."

The temporary injunction, which was requested by Foundation for Broadcast Culture chairperson Kwon Tae-sun and approved by the Seoul Administrative Court, prevents foundation directors appointed last month by the Korea Communications Commission (KCC) from taking office and replacing the body’s current directors.

As the Foundation for Broadcast Culture is a majority stakeholder in MBC, its directors play a key role in selecting the public broadcaster’s management.

The six new directors were selected by KCC chair Lee Jin-sook and vice-chair Kim Tae-kyu 10 hours after they were appointed to lead the state media watchdog by President Yoon Suk Yeol on July 31.

The appointments were opposed by both the liberal Democratic Party (DP) and current directors of the Foundation for Broadcast Culture on the grounds that Lee and Kim should not make personnel decisions while the remaining three seats on the KCC’s five-person standing committee remain vacant.

Lee was impeached two days later by the DP-controlled National Assembly.

In its decision to grant an injunction, the Seoul Administrative Court accepted the plaintiffs’ arguments that the appointment of new foundation directors by only two KCC standing committee members could undermine the legitimacy of the state media watchdog and imperil the freedom and neutrality of the country’s broadcast media.

The injunction prevents the new directors from taking up their positions until a first trial ruling is issued in the lawsuit filed by the foundation’s current directors against the KCC.

In a statement that called the court’s approval of the injunction “a major deviation from the Korean system of law and governance,” PPP policy chief Lee Sang-hwi accused the Seoul Administrative Court of “infringing on the executive branch’s right to appoint government personnel” and violating legal precedents.

Kim — who is serving as acting KCC chair while Lee awaits a ruling by the Constitutional Court regarding her impeachment — told members of the parliamentary Science, ICT, Broadcasting and Communications Committee on Tuesday that he would defend the legitimacy of the KCC’s appointments in the upcoming lawsuit.

Kim also warned that the injunction would have the effect of extending the term of the foundation’s current directors, who took office during the term of previous President Moon Jae-in, and possibly “render term limits meaningless.”

But the injunction was praised by Kwon, who said the court’s decision “showed democratic values are still alive” at a press conference held at the foundation’s headquarters in Seoul on Monday.

The court’s decision was also praised by both MBC’s management and labor union, who called it a “historic ruling that halted the government’s efforts to take control over broadcast media.”

DP senior spokesman Cho Seung-rae said the injunction “confirmed the illegitimacy of a KCC run by only two government-aligned officials as well as the illegality of their hasty personnel appointments.”

Cho further characterized the KCC’s attempts to shake up MBC management as a “coup” to “take over broadcast media without regard for the rule of law or proper procedure.”

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