The National Assembly on Thursday voted down four contentious broadcasting bills that were put up for a revote during a plenary session after President Yoon Suk Yeol vetoed them. Three of the broadcasting bills call for amending the Broadcasting Act, the Foundation for Broadcast Culture Act and the Korea Educational Broadcasting System Act. The proposed changes aimed to alter the governance structure of public broadcasters -- KBS, MBC and EBS -- by significantly increasing the number of their board directors and granting media and broadcasting associations, as well as related professional organizations, the right to recommend board members. The fourth bill calls for changing the rules governing the decision-making body at the Korea Communications Commission, the state broadcasting regulator. Yoon rejected the bills during a Cabinet meeting last month, demanding parliamentary reconsideration of the bills, exercising his veto power again against the legislation that the government says infringes upon the p resident's right to make appointments. The Assembly also rejected two other bills calling for providing handouts to the entire population and the "yellow envelope bill," which seeks to limit companies from making damage claims against workers during legitimate disputes. All six bills were ultimately scrapped as they failed to gain the two-thirds support required to override Yoon's veto. The National Assembly holds a plenary session on Sept. 26, 2024. (Yonhap) The National Assembly holds a plenary session on Sept. 26, 2024. (Yonhap) During the session, the Assembly will also vote on several key livelihood bills, including one increasing the maximum length of parental leave. Under the revision to the Equal Employment Opportunity and Work-Family Balance Assistance Act, the length of parental leave will be increased from a total of two years to a total of three years, with each parent allowed to take leave of up to 1 1/2 years, while the total duration will be divisible into three parts instead of two. The revision will expand the number of vacation days for fathers after the birth of their child from 10 days to 20 days and ease the criteria for parents working reduced hours by raising the age threshold for children from 8 to 12 years. Additionally, the Assembly is expected to pass revisions to three pieces of legislation on sexual crimes amid public alarm over a surge in digital sex crimes using doctored pornographic images of girls and women. The revised act on special cases concerning the punishment of sexual crimes punishes people possessing, purchasing, storing or viewing deepfake sexual materials and other fabricated videos with up to three years in prison or a fine of up to 30 million won (US$22,500). Under the revision to the act on protecting children, using sexually exploitative material to blackmail or coerce children and teenagers will be newly punishable by law, and more heavily than under existing laws. While current laws punish such crimes with imprisonment of one or more years in the case of blackmail and three or more years in the case of coercion, the revision raises the sentences to three or more years and five or more years, respectively, in the event the crimes are carried out against children and teenagers. The revision to the sexual violence prevention act stipulates that it is the government's responsibility to delete illegally filmed material and help victims return to everyday life. Source: Yonhap News Agency
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