The main opposition Liberty Korea Party said Thursday it will introduce a motion calling for the dismissal of the chief of the Korea Communications Commission after the broadcasting watchdog named two pro-government members to a board holding a controlling stake in the TV network MBC.

The appointment gave the ruling Democratic Party control of the nine-member board of the Foundation for Broadcast Culture, MBC's largest shareholder, as their appointment increased the number of those on the ruling party side to five against four on the opposition side.

The question of who will fill the two vacant seats on the board has been a key contentious issue because the board can appoint a new president of the TV station. The opposition LKP has accused the ruling camp of trying to control the TV station by putting two pro-government members on the board and then firing the station's current president and naming a new one friendlier to the government.

The party said it will seek to dismiss Lee Hyo-seong, chairman of the watchdog.

"We believe President Moon Jae-in is behind the attempt to control public broadcasting," Rep. Chung Woo-taik, floor leader of the LKP, said during an emergency meeting of the party's lawmakers. "We have to dismiss Chairman Lee who is playing the role of a puppet of President Moon."

Chung said the party will submit a motion calling for Lee's dismissal and file for an injunction on the two new members of the board.

The board's nine members are composed of six recommended by the ruling party and three by the opposition party. Before the recent departure of the two members, who had been recommended by the LKP when it was the ruling party, six members of the board were on the opposition side. 

But their departure left the party with the prospect of losing a majority on the board unless the two seats are filled with people recommended by it. That's why the party has demanded it be allowed to name the two new members.

But the watchdog Korea Communications Commission rejected the demand, saying the party is no longer the ruling party. The commission says it is the current ruling Democratic Party that has the right to fill the two seats. (Yonhap)