The National Planning and Advisory Committee (National Planning Committee), which is drawing up a blueprint for the five-year national agenda of the Lee Jae-myung administration, pointed out that the understanding of the new government's promises is low regarding the work reports of three ministries, and decided to receive a re-report in the future. This is the first time the National Planning Committee has suspended work reports, which began on the 18th. It appears to be a move to enforce discipline centered around institutions that had a tense confrontation with the opposition during the Yoon Suk-yeol administration.
On the third day of the ministry work reports on the 20th, the National Planning Committee decided to suspend the work reports of the Prosecution Office, Broadcasting and Communications Commission, and Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries and conduct a re-report in the future. It judged that these ministries merely listed policies without a sufficient understanding of the new government's promises and national agenda.
First, the National Planning Committee conducted a work report to the Prosecution Office at the Government Seoul Complex in Jongno-gu, Seoul, and the Government Complex in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi Province, but suspended the report after about 30 minutes.
Spokesperson Cho Seung-rae noted regarding the Prosecution Office work report, "There was insufficient proper analysis of key prosecution promises. It also did not meet the typical formal requirements for promise implementation."
In particular, President Lee Jae-myung raised the separation of investigation and prosecution as a presidential campaign promise, but it seems that such content was not adequately included in the prosecution work report. Spokesperson Cho said, "There are promises on how to deal with the separation of investigation and prosecution and the abuse of prosecution rights, but the actual work report seems to lean toward expanding the current powers held by the prosecution."
The prosecution stated that it submitted supplementary materials to the National Planning Committee. In this regard, Spokesperson Cho pointed out, "There should have been key reporting content, but the core details were all missing."
The work report of the Broadcasting and Communications Commission was also suspended after about 1 hour and 30 minutes due to insufficiencies in the promise implementation plan. Spokesperson Cho said, "It seems there were also concerns about the work report's weakness in the implementation plan, and it likely raised points during the discussion, which will be addressed according to the level of criticism."
In particular, before even starting the work report, members of the National Planning Committee strongly criticized the Broadcasting and Communications Commission. Hong Chang-nam, the 2nd Social Committee chair of the National Planning Committee, stated during his opening remarks, "The harm that the Yoon Suk-yeol administration has caused to the freedom of the press and democracy in Korea is comparable to civil war, and while I won't detail the partisan actions of the Broadcasting and Communications Commission over the past three years, it is clear that the Yoon Suk-yeol administration has thoroughly trampled on the public nature and values of the media."
Currently, the Broadcasting and Communications Commission is being operated under the leadership of Chairperson Lee Jin-sook alone, following the voluntary resignation of Vice Chair Kim Tae-kyu. Chairperson Lee was appointed during the Yoon Suk-yeol administration and has been in conflict with the opposition to the extent that the impeachment proposal was passed, leading to her suspension from duty. Since the establishment of the Lee Jae-myung administration, Chairperson Lee has also expressed opposition to the 'three special investigations' proposal in the State Council. Additionally, the possibility of organizational restructuring of media-related ministries, including the Broadcasting and Communications Commission, has been mentioned, creating a heavy atmosphere during that day's work report.
In the afternoon, the work report of the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries was suspended due to data leaks. Spokesperson Cho stated during the afternoon briefing, "The explanation and attitude of the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries were unclear, so we thought further reporting was meaningless and the committee chair requested to suspend the report." He also noted, "Like the prosecution work report today, there was a lack of review of key presidential promises," and asked for a plan to be prepared based on a thorough understanding of the president's promises.
The National Planning Committee is scheduled to receive the work reports of the Prosecution Office and Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries on the 25th, and the Broadcasting and Communications Commission on the 26th. The National Planning Committee officially launched on the 16th and has been receiving work reports reflecting the new government's policy directions since the 18th. Based on this, there are plans to establish the new government's national agenda over the course of two months until mid-August.