Secret meeting held to appoint KBS president sparks widespread opposition

Posted on : 2008-08-23 13:09 KST Modified on : 2019-10-19 20:29 KST
Korean Communications Commission chair, KBS board president and candidates for KBS president in attendance

Ahead of the naming of a new president of broadcaster Korean Broadcasting System, it has been revealed that Korean Communications Commission Chairman Choi Si-joong led a “secret meeting” between presidential chief of staff Chung Chung-kil, presidential spokesman Lee Dong-kwan, KBS board of directors chairman Yoo Jae-cheon and figures believed to be candidates to be the next KBS president.

Politicians and media are claiming this reveals that Cheong Wa Dae is intervening in the naming of a new KBS president, and are calling for Choi and Yoo’s resignation and a parliamentary investigation.

It was confirmed yesterday that Choi and the others met for two hours at a restaurant in a Seoul hotel on August 17 to discuss the selection of a new KBS president. Cheong Wa Dae said Choi led the meeting.

In a briefing on August 22, spokesman Lee, when asked if Choi had organized the meeting, answered, “Basically, yes.”

Former KBS vice president Choi Dong-ho, who also attended the meeting, told The Hankyoreh in a telephone conversation that he attended after being contacted by Yoo, revealing that the KBS board chairman, too, was actively involved in organizing the meeting.

At the meeting, the gist of the conversation was reported to have been that the new president needed to be chosen well; appointing former KBS Director Kim In-gyu would be best, they said, but there was too much talk of ”parachute appointments,” appointments made on orders from above.

Yoo said, however, that the group, which included former senior KBS staff members, had met to eat dinner with the intent of making KBS a proper public broadcast station.

About this, the Korea Journalists Association’s Emergency Committee to Block the Government from Taking Over the Media demanded the National Assembly conduct a parliamentary investigation. In a statement, the association said that no matter who is named as the new KBS president, it will regard it as a political appointment and resolutely reject it.

In particular, with it being revealed that Choi and Yoo, who are supposed to be politically neutral, led the meeting, there are loud voices calling for their resignation. Choi Young-mook, a media professor at SungKongHoe University, criticized the two men, saying they are by law supposed to be politically neutral, yet they were subordinating themselves to political authority. Media groups such as the National Union of Media Workers, Korea Producers Alliance, and Citizens’ Coalition for Democratic Media, too, released statements Friday calling for the two men to resign.

Democratic Paty Chairman Chung Sye-kyu said at a party executive committee meeting on August 22 that he was dumbfounded at the revelation that Cheong Wa Dae and the Korean Communications Commission were intervening in the KBS president selection process. He said this was a violation of the Broadcast Law, which allows the president to appoint the president of KBS only on the recommendation of an independent KBS board of directors. He called on the government to cease its anachronistic behavior that ignores the people.

Please direct questions or comments to [englishhani@hani.co.kr]

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