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The President's Office has begun in earnest to set aside the 2,500 won KBS subscription fee that is
currently included in the electricity bill. It was a recommendation to the relevant ministries to come up with a plan to separate and collect the tolls, which KBS and the Democratic Party of Korea (MDP) protested as an attempt to tame the public broadcaster.

Lee Sung-hoon is a journalist.

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Currently, the KBS subscription fee of 2,500 won is charged monthly to "those who have a television set."

KEPCO, which was entrusted with the task of collecting subscription fees from KBS in 1994, has been collecting them together with electricity bills in accordance with the Enforcement Decree of the Broadcasting Act.

However, the President's Office has decided to pursue a plan to collect these tolls separately in earnest.

[Kang Seung-kyu, Chief of Civil Society at the Office of the President: (Korea Communications Commission and the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy) recommended that the relevant laws and regulations for separate collection be amended and follow-up measures implemented accordingly to reflect the people's complaints of inconvenience and demand for change.]

For a month from March, the government posted the toll collection method on the "People's Proposal website" for public discussion, and about 3 percent of the 5,8 people who participated were in favor of separate collection.

KBS and the Democratic Party immediately reacted.

KBS called it "a serious issue that could undermine the foundations of public broadcasting" and "needs to be discussed more closely and fully," while the Democratic Party criticized it as a declaration that it would tame public broadcasting by using subscription fees as a weapon.

[Kang Sun-woo, spokesman for the Democratic Party: Are you intent on taking control of the public broadcaster and creating "Dingyun News"?]

Of KBS's total revenue of 97.1 trillion won last year, fee revenue accounted for 5.300 billion won, accounting for 6 percent.

The current contract between KBS and KEPCO for the consignment and consolidation of toll collection will end at the end of next year.

(Video Interview: Lee Chan-so, Video Editing: Choi Eun-jin)