SEOUL-- A parliamentary committee on Thursday put off its deliberation on a controversial bill that would require an up to five-fold increase in compensation rates for media outlets spreading false or fraudulent news reports, facing strong resistance from opposition lawmakers and media groups.

The parliamentary Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee called off a plenary session, scheduled earlier in the day to review the legislative proposal to revise the Act on Press Arbitration and Remedies, Etc. for Damage Caused by Press Reports.

In a meeting ahead of the parliamentary session, the ruling Democratic Party (DP) and the main opposition People Power Party (PPP) agreed to put off their review of the bill until the latter comes up with its own proposal of modifications to the bill by Sunday.

"As there's formidable objection from the PPP to the revision bill, the committee decided to put it back on discussion once the opposition party comes up with an alternative bill," an official well-versed in the matter told Yonhap News Agency.

Spearheaded by the DP as part of its broader vision to "reform" the media, the bill aims to sharply increase the media's burden of responsibility for false or fake news.

The revision proposal primarily aims to multiply the level of punitive compensation rates for damage from the release of "deliberate" or "grossly negligent" false news reports by up to five-fold in a bid to curb dissemination of misleading news.

Having unilaterally passed the bill through a subcommittee of the Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee late last month, the DP aims to advance it through the National Assembly in a plenary session later this month.

But the PPP and media organizations have criticized the bill as an attempt to gag press critical of the government and the ruling party ahead of next year's presidential election.

"It is not right to block the media's functions to investigate, report and criticize matters related to corruption by hypocritical high-ranking government officials or other abuse of power crime cases in the final year of a presidential term," Rep. Choi Hyung-du, a PPP-affiliated member of the committee, wrote on his social media account.

The DP, which commands an absolute majority of 171 of the National Assembly's 300 seats, remains committed to resuming the parliamentary processing of the bill next week for its final approval at a plenary session within this month.

"We decided to (take more time) to deliberate more on what the media sector and others are concerned about, and are planning to resume the parliamentary review next week as planned," Rep. Park Jeung, a DP-affiliated senior member of the culture committee, said.

Source: Yonhap News Agency