Public institution heads targeted

[Anchor]

The ruling party has decided to push for a bill that would change heads of public institutions when a new president takes office.

This aims to prevent conflicts between heads appointed by the previous administration and the incoming government.

The People Power Party has opposed this, calling it an unjust purge.

Reporter Oh Dae-seong has the story.

[Report]

Lee Seong-hae, the chairman of the Korea National Railway, was appointed in February last year.

Allegations have emerged that the KNR demanded a trading company to purchase a bicycle that Lee was supposed to ride.

[Cheon Jun-ho/Member of the National Assembly/ Democratic Party: "Shouldn't this be seen as a bribe received from the trading company?"]

[Lee Seong-hae/Chairman of the Korea National Railway: "I am not aware of the specific circumstances of the purchase."]

The Democratic Party is moving to replace heads of public institutions appointed by the previous government, including Lee and Kim Hyung-seok, the director of the Independence Hall of Korea, who has recently been embroiled in controversy.

The Yoon Suk Yeol administration appointed 53 people even after the emergency martial law, and among them, 22 took office after the impeachment of former President Yoon, prompting a proposal to amend the law to align the terms of heads of institutions with the presidential term.

[Kim Byung-kee/Leader of the Democratic Party in the National Assembly: "There is no such shamelessness as this. The core issue is the parachute appointments by the Yoon Suk Yeol government."]

The presidential office also supported this move.

[Woo Sang-ho/Chief of Staff to the President: "We need to ensure that the governance philosophy of the president elected by the people is consistently reflected in the operation of institutions."]

The People Power Party has stated that they "absolutely cannot agree" and has warned that they will block the bill from being presented in the National Assembly, where the opposition party holds the chairmanship.

[Park Seong-hoon/Senior Spokesperson for the People Power Party: "We strongly oppose any attempts to replace heads of public institutions with individuals who align with the current administration's preferences."]

The Democratic Party plans to designate the amendment as a "fast-track agenda" if the People Power Party continues to oppose it.

In this case, it could take 180 days for review in the standing committee, making it difficult to process this year.

This is KBS News Oh Dae-seong.