Seoul: The Constitutional Court on Thursday rejected a National Assembly vote to impeach Korea Communications Commission (KCC) Chairperson Lee Jin-sook over what opposition lawmakers said was a controversial decision-making process at the state broadcasting watchdog. The opposition-led National Assembly had voted to impeach Lee on August 2, just two days after she took office, accusing her of making KCC decisions with only two members while leaving the other three of the commission's five-member standing committee vacant.

According to Yonhap News Agency, in a 4-to-4 decision, the Constitutional Court ruled against Lee's impeachment. By law, the court requires the consent of at least six justices to endorse the impeachment. Following the decision, Lee, whose duties were suspended after the August 2 impeachment, was immediately reinstated.

The impeachment motion against Lee was introduced by the main opposition Democratic Party (DP) and five other minor parties. They aimed to counter what they perceive as the Yoon Suk Yeol government's attempts to control public broadcasting. The opposition accused Lee and her predecessors under the Yoon administration of unfairly managing the watchdog's decision-making standing committee by making decisions with only two members while leaving three positions vacant.

Soon after her inauguration, Lee conducted a meeting with Kim Tae-gyu, a newly appointed member of the KCC's standing committee, and appointed six new directors at the Foundation for Broadcast Culture, the major shareholder of MBC TV. This move was strongly denounced by the DP.

Lee had appeared in Constitutional Court hearings three times, where she argued that she performed her duties in accordance with established laws and procedures, asserting there was no justification for her dismissal.