hankyoreh

Park Kyung-seok, right, the YTN union leader, and other union members block Gu Bon-hong, left, the new president of the 24-hour cable news broadcasting company in front of the YTN building in Seoul on July 22.

Gu was elected at a shareholders’ meeting, despite strong opposition from union members, on July 17. Media and civic organizations have criticized the appointment as part of a broad range of steps being taken by President Lee Myung-bak to gain control of the media.

On July 22, Gu arrived at YTN at 7:50 a.m. but was stopped by union members who had been gathering since 6:30 a.m. At 8 a.m., after 10 minutes, Gu gave up and went home.

Kim In-gyu, the managing director of the YTN union, said, “We will not talk with Gu. The best thing for him to do would be to resign.”