hankyoreh

newly selected president of MBC

Cheongju MBC president Kim Jae-chul, reportedly a close friend of President Lee Myung-bak, has been named new president of MBC. Calling the move a declaration of full-scale war, the MBC labor union will attempt to block Kim from coming to work from Saturday.



During an extraordinary directors meeting at its office in Yeouido on Friday morning, the Foundation for Broadcast Culture (FBC) elected Kim the new MBC president. The three opposition party directors abstained in the voting. During the first vote, Kim received four out of six ruling-party director votes (candidate Gu Yeong-hee received two votes) and five votes in the second round (Gu earned one).

Just prior to the vote, Jeong Sang-mo, an opposition party director, demanded a new slate of candidates, declaring all the existing candidates unqualified. Ruling party directors are avoiding comments as to why they elected Kim. The FBC and Jeongsu Scholarship Foundation gave final approval of Kim at a stockholders’ meeting in the afternoon.



Kim is a graduate of Daegwang High School and Lee Myung-bak’s alma mater of Korea University. He joined MBC in 1980. He has served as president of Cheongju MBC since 2008 after serving as a Tokyo correspondent, head of the international news desk, head of new production and president of Ulsan MBC. He is considered a highly politicized candidate, regarded as the closest man in MBC to President Lee.



Meeting with reporters after his initial interview, Kim said his friendship with Lee would present no problems. Kim said that those who serve as reporters gain politician friends. Kim said his relationship with the president was originally a work relationship, and that history would not stop him from becoming president. In response to threats of a general strike by MBC’s union, Kim said he did not want to fight with his juniors, but MBC is in a difficult position and they need to think of their survival. Kim has also shown the desire to merge some of the 19 regional branches of MBC. During his interview, he revealed an intention to form a commission to investigate what has become the politicized television show PD Notebook and amend its collective bargaining agreement with the MBC union.



MBC’s union called the move a declaration of full-scale war on the heart of public broadcasting. In the afternoon, the union held a general emergency meeting in the first floor lobby of MBC headquarters and went into resistance mode. Representatives from the five opposition parties and media, labor, farmers, environmental and civic groups also launched a movement to protect MBC as a public broadcaster, holding solidarity strikes and protests. A candlelight vigil demonstration with citizen participation took place in the evening. Even with Kim beginning work from Saturday, the union plans to stay up all night starting Monday, a day before he formally begins work, to block any attempt by Kim to show up unexpectedly.

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