S. Korea's ruling party passes media reform bill after 24-hour filibuster

Tensions are escalating at the National Assembly as a filibuster by the opposition comes to a close — only for another to begin.

At the heart of the standoff is a media reform bill pushed by the ruling party.

Our Moon Hye-ryeon has our top story.

A 24-hour-long filibuster launched by the opposition People Power Party came to an end Tuesday afternoon, after the ruling Democratic Party passed a motion to close debate.

The PPP initiated the filibuster in an attempt to stall the passage of a contentious media reform bill, which the ruling party introduced at Monday's plenary session.

Under National Assembly rules, a filibuster can be forcibly ended only after 24 hours have passed and at least three-fifths of sitting lawmakers — 180 members — vote in favor of doing so.

The threshold was met and the DP immediately followed up by passing the media reform bill, where 178 lawmakers voted in favor and two against of the 180 votes cast.

The PPP did not participate in the vote.

The media reform bill is one of three controversial legislative proposals aimed at overhauling governance structures at South Korea's public broadcasters.

The DP claims the reform would reduce political influence over broadcaster leadership, while the PPP warns it could undermine press freedom.

"To boost press freedom and independence, the bill makes CEO appointments more transparent and democratic."

"The three broadcasting control bills can be seen as a prelude to the dictatorship of the Lee Jae Myung administration. Before long, they will take control of the general programming cable channels in the same way, even though those are not included for now"

The remaining four bills on the agenda — including two other media reform bills, the so-called "Yellow Envelope Bill" aimed at protecting unionized workers, and a revision of the Commercial Act — will carry over into the August session, with a plenary vote likely scheduled for later in the month.

The PPP has vowed to continue its resistance by launching filibusters against each of the remaining bills, with a second filibuster already underway as of Tuesday evening, after the next media reform bill was introduced.

Despite continued resistance, the ruling party is pressing ahead, signaling more legislative standoffs in the weeks to come.

Moon Hye-ryeon, Arirang News.