With the June 3 local elections approaching, there are calls to quickly form the Election Broadcasting Review Panel. That has raised the prospect that the Broadcast Media and Communications Review Committee and the Broadcast Media and Communications Commission could be normalised at the same time. Normalising the review committee is essential to forming the panel, and some see the National Assembly handling the review committee and the commission as a package.

According to political circles and related agencies on Thursday, voices are emerging that both bodies should be normalised ahead of the June 3 local elections.

Only 3 members appointed by the president have been commissioned to the review committee, while 6 seats allocated to the National Assembly are vacant. The commission has also had only 2 members appointed by the president, leaving it short of the legal quorum of 7. Neither body can operate normally because the Assembly has not made its appointments.

Under the enforcement rules of the Framework Act on Broadcasting Communications Development, the panel must be formed by the day before the application date for preliminary candidate registration. Preliminary registration began on Feb. 3, but the panel has not been formed.

The review committee is responsible for forming the panel. Under the chair's lead, it must form the panel and operate it until 30 days after the end of the election. Normalising the review committee is essential to forming the panel.

Against this backdrop, some see it as likely that the National Assembly will handle appointments to the commission and the review committee as a package.

An official familiar with the matter said, "It is politically more realistic to form both committees at the same time than to normalise only one side."

A review committee official explained, "The chair of the review committee must be elected in order to form the panel," adding, "We will form the panel as quickly as possible after the review committee members are commissioned."