The future of South Korea's leading public broadcaster could be threatened if an opposition party proposal to amend the country's broadcasting law is approved, warns the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ).

The Grand National Party (GNP) has tabled a bill proposing that the Korean Broadcasting Law be revised to separate television license fees from electricity billing. This would remove a major source of funding from Korean Broadcasting Systems (KBS), a public service broadcaster, and force it to rely more on advertising, says IFJ.

"Stable finance is an important element for KBS to perform its public responsibilities without any constraints from politics. Korean listeners and viewers are entitled to public service broadcasting free from excessive commercialism," IFJ argues. The organisation is calling for the draft bill to be withdrawn.

For more information, contact: ifj-asia@alliance.org.au

Visit these links:

- IFJ Statement on KBS: http://www.ifj-asia.org/korea031204.html

- Public Broadcasting for All Campaign:
http://www.save-public-broadcasting.org/
- KBS: http://english.kbs.co.kr/main/index.html