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Kwon Seong-dong, floor leader of the People Power Party (PPP), speaks during a party strategy meeting at the National Assembly on April 25. / Photo by Song Ui-joo

People Power Party (PPP) floor leader Kwon Seong-dong on April 25 denounced the National Assembly’s Science, ICT, Broadcasting and Communications Committee for unilaterally pushing ahead with a hearing on broadcasting issues, scheduled for April 30. He accused the committee, dominated by the Democratic Party, of acting as a "shock force for Lee Jae-myung's bid to seize control of the media."

Speaking during a party strategy meeting at the National Assembly, Kwon sharply criticized Committee Chair Choi Min, saying, “Choi dreams of playing the role of Goebbels, staging a media control hearing while gagging parliament.” He added, “Lee Jae-myung’s Democratic Party envisions Hitler-style totalitarian power.”

Kwon claimed that on April 18, the committee adopted 54 witnesses and three reference individuals without any consultation, followed by another six witnesses and four references added unilaterally on April 23.

He went on to say, “They refused to hold a fact-finding hearing on the death of Oh Yo-anna, which would have held MBC accountable, yet are now targeting KBS and YTN in what is clearly a distorted view of media oversight.”

“The so-called media control hearing is nothing more than a tool to pave the way for overtly biased broadcasting ahead of the presidential election,” Kwon warned. “On June 3, I trust that the Korean people will stop this authoritarian attempt by the Lee Jae-myung faction to dominate the media.”