SEOUL, The head of the broadcasting regulator voluntarily stepped down Tuesday, as opposition parties are set to vote on an impeachment motion against him. Kim Hong-il, chair of the Korea Communications Commission (KCC), offered his resignation and skipped a Cabinet meeting earlier in the day. His voluntary stepping down came hours before the main opposition Democratic Party (DP) was set to report an impeachment motion against him to a plenary session of the National Assembly, citing "abuse of power." The DP, which has a controlling majority of 170 seats in the 300-member Assembly, has accused Kim of unfairly running the broadcasting watchdog only with a vice chairperson, leaving three out of five KCC standing member positions vacant. If the impeachment bill passes the National Assembly, Kim will be suspended until the Constitutional Court makes a decision, resulting in a prolonged halt to KCC operations. This includes the selection process for a new director of a public broadcaster, which recently began . Kim's resignation will allow his successor to continue ongoing projects. Right after his offer, President Yoon Suk Yeol accepted the resignation. "I made a difficult decision because it is the only way to prevent a worrying situation in which broadcasting and communications media policies that have a large impact on people's daily lives come to a standstill for a long period of time due to the majority opposition party's impeachment motion," Kim said during his resignation ceremony. Kim also accused the opposition of being "politically motivated" in pushing for his impeachment, saying he hopes his resignation will end the "repeating chaos." Last week, the KCC approved a plan to appoint new board members for the controlling shareholder of a public broadcaster and two other public broadcasters, despite the seats of standing commissioners being vacant. The three public broadcasters are Munhwa Broadcasting Corp. (MBC), Korean Broadcasting System and Korea Educational Broadcasting System. The DP has slamm ed the move as an attempt by the Yoon Suk Yeol government to "control the media." The KCC will be temporarily led by Vice Chairperson Lee Sang-in, with no standing commissioners. Kim stepped down approximately six months after taking office in December, following the resignation of former KCC Chairman Lee Dong-kwan shortly before a vote on an impeachment motion against him. Lee Jin-sook, former head of MBC's branch in the central city of Daejeon, is among the likely candidates for the new KCC chief. Source: Yonhap News Agency