Rival political parties continued to wrangle over the relevance of an existing process of appointing board members at public broadcasters during a third round of parliamentary hearings regarding the state broadcasting watchdog.

The hearing on Wednesday was held in the absence of Korea Communications Commission(KCC) chair Lee Jin-sook, who has been suspended after an impeachment motion passed parliament, and KCC vice chair and acting chief Kim Tae-kyu.

The ruling People Power Party(PPP) accused the main opposition Democratic Party(DP) of neutralizing the watchdog through the impeachment motion, despite neglecting to make KCC member recommendations apportioned to the Assembly.

The PPP also argued that convening the hearing while waiting for the Constitutional Court's decision on Lee's impeachment motion and amid an administrative litigation against board appointment is inappropriate.

DP Rep. Choi Min-hee, who chairs the Science, ICT, Broadcasting, and Communications Committee, said the opposition intends to begin the recommendation process for a full commission to reappoint the board members at the broadcasters.

After the PPP committee members walked out in protest of the hearing, the opposition claimed that the two-member commission, prior to the impeachment motion passage, had unlawfully passed the board appointments.