Politicians Push Law Revision Infringing on Right to Know

Lawmakers from both the ruling and opposition parties have pointed out that the National Election Commission’s regulation on press interviews on presidential hopefuls may infringe on the public’s right to know and have decided to take measures such as revising laws on the National Assembly level, if necessary. The National Election Commission had banned press interviews on presidential candidates up to next August.

Especially, the Grand National Party considered the regulation as the commission’s oppression of the press and is determined to aggressively deal with it. GNP floor leader Kim Hyong-o said in a telephone interview on December 18, “We are weighing whether to hold a hearing within the Committee on Home Affairs and Local Autonomy, the governing body of the National Election Commission, to judge the impartiality of the regulation.”

GNP spokesperson Yoo Ki-jun said, “The regulation is a new type of oppression of the press that deprives it of the right to report and the public of the right to know. To ensure the public its right, we may consider revising the law if necessary.”

Uri Party spokesperson Woo Sang-ho said, “The commission might have imposed the regulation to deliver the law strictly, but it is possible that the press feels the regulation is excessive. The law needs to be tinkered, and the ruling and opposition parties need to have an effective body to deal with the law revision.”

Politicians are moving toward revising the law to eradicate controversies while most experts point out that the commission’s regulation banning media interviews on perspective candidates based on the interpretation of Article 82 of the election law went too far.

Meanwhile, the commission announced that it would bring all the commission members together at the meeting on December 21, in which they will decide how to interpret the election law in regard to the limit on interviews and debates, and then provide guidelines for the press interviews and reports on presidential hopefuls.

yongari@donga.com