The chief of the Korea Communications Commission agreed on the need to raise the television license fee for KBS, saying that finance concerns for public broadcasters is a serious issue.

Chairperson Han Sang-hyuk received the question from ruling Democratic Party lawmaker Woo Sang-ho during his confirmation hearing in parliament on Monday for a consecutive term as head of the commission.

Han said it's impossible to resolve the current difficulties of terrestrial broadcasts just through a few measures of deregulation that include commercials. He said it is time to fundamentally rethink the revenue structure of public broadcasters.

Lawmaker Woo proposed that in return for raising the license fee, which has been frozen for 40 years at two-thousand-500 won, KBS can reduce advertising so that such revenue can benefit other broadcasters, creating a virtuous cycle.

On July 1, KBS announced plans to revamp management, vowing to raise the portion of license fees in its total income from the current 45 to over 70 percent.