The Broadcast Media Telecommunications Commission is set to start operating under a six-member structure.

Political circles said on March 6 that National Assembly Speaker Woo Won-shik (우원식) approved on March 4 a recommendation for Choi Soo-young (최수영) as a non-standing commissioner and transferred it to the Ministry of Personnel Management. Choi’s final appointment will be decided after a presidential appointment procedure.

Under Article 5(2) of the law establishing the commission, 7 commissioners are appointed under a structure in which the president nominates 2 people, including the chair, and the remaining 5 are recommended by the ruling and opposition negotiating groups and then recommended by the National Assembly to the president. The ruling Democratic Party recommends 1 standing commissioner and 1 non-standing commissioner, and the opposition People Power Party recommends 1 standing commissioner and 2 non-standing commissioners.

By recommending body, the lineup so far includes Chair Kim Jong-cheol (김종철) and non-standing commissioner Ryu Shin-hwan (류신환), nominated by the president; standing commissioner Ko Min-soo (고민수) and non-standing commissioner Yoon Sung-ok (윤성옥), recommended by the Democratic Party; and non-standing commissioners Lee Sang-geun (이상근) and Choi Soo-young, recommended by the People Power Party. Of these, 4 people, including 2 recommended by the Democratic Party and 2 recommended by the People Power Party who went through the National Assembly recommendation process, have been transferred to the Ministry of Personnel Management. Once the presidential appointment procedure is completed, the six-member structure will be in place. One People Power Party standing commissioner nominee remains for the full seven-member lineup.

At a National Assembly plenary session on Feb. 26, a recommendation to appoint Cheon Young-sik (천영식), head of Penn & Mike, as a standing commissioner nominated by the People Power Party was rejected, with 116 in favor and 124 against out of 249 lawmakers present. On the same day, a recommendation to appoint Ko Min-soo, nominated by the Democratic Party, as a standing commissioner was approved with 228 in favor. Woo approved recommendations for Yoon Sung-ok, nominated by the Democratic Party, and Lee Sang-geun, nominated by the People Power Party, as non-standing commissioners without a plenary vote, based on consultations between the parties’ floor leaders on the same day.

Some have also raised concerns about procedural appropriateness after the plenary vote was omitted during the process of recommending non-standing commissioners.

The ruling and opposition parties agreed to proceed on non-standing commissioners without a vote, but Ahn Jung-sang (안정상), an adjunct professor at Chung-Ang University’s Graduate School of Communication and a former senior specialist adviser for information and communications and broadcast media for the Democratic Party, said, "It is not procedurally appropriate for the National Assembly speaker to arbitrarily request an appointment based on what the floor leaders agreed to. Negotiating groups can only submit candidates to the National Assembly speaker, and a National Assembly recommendation is completed only after the speaker places it on the plenary agenda and it is approved."