Co-sponsorship network of media bill in the 20th Korean National Assembly

Abstract

This study analyzed the co-sponsorship network of media-related bills proposed in the 20th Korean National Assembly to understand the legislative process of media-related law. For this, I analyzed connectivity and network centrality based on co-sponsor attributes. The analysis revealed a clear division in the party affiliation and local constituency of the members who participated in the co-sponsorship. In particular, the division was centered on the two major parties (Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) and United Future Party (UFP)), and the members of the third-party Minsaengdang were mainly close to the DPK members, but some had networks with the UFP members. By region, members from Gyeongsang/Gangwon, and Jeolla were clustered. Honggeun Bak, Woongrae Roh of the DPK and Seang Tae Kim and Heekyung Song of the UFP were ranked high in several centrality indices, suggesting that they played a key roles and exercised influence in the media bill co-sponsorship process based on their party affiliations.