hankyoreh

in front of Seoul station on June 13. (by Shin So-young

By Yu Sun-hui, staff reporter

On June 13, some producers of Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation (MBC)’s trade union conducted a one-million-signature petition campaign in front of Seoul station. They appealed to passer-bys for MBC president Kim Jae-cheol’s resignation and a prosecutors’ investigation into Kim’s activities as president of the broadcaster.

Han Hak-soo, producer of current affairs program ‘PD Notebook’, and Kim Hyun-chul, producer of a documentary ‘Tears of the Amazon’ distributed flyers for signature. The petition movement started on June 4, and over three hundred thousand people have signed so far.

“My kids are desperate to watch ‘Muhan Dojeon’ [MBC’s weekly entertainment program] every Saturday. Please don’t shut the program down. When on earth is the strike going to end?” a middle-aged woman asked to the producers.

“If you keep helping us, it will end soon,” answered one of the producers, with a smile. At the same time they appeared depressed at being out of the studio and unable to produce their programs.

“Today is the 10th anniversary of Hyo-sun and Mi-seon, the middle-school girls who killed by a US military armored vehicle,” said producer Kim. “I covered that case when I produced ‘PD Notebook’ for the first time. I want to interact with viewers through the program.”

136 days have passed since MBC’s union started the strike and audiences are turning away from MBC’s programs. According figures compiled by Total National Multimedia Statistics, ratings of ‘MBC News Desk’ dropped to half, compared to last November, from 8.7 percent to 4.2 percent of available viewers.

The fairness of reporting has also suffered. On May 8, Korean Broadcasting System (KBS) reported the top news that prosecutors arrested former vice-minister of Ministry of Knowledge Economy Park Young-joon, a close associate of President Lee Myung-bak. MBC gave the story only 20 seconds of airtime.

MBC trade union president Jeong Young-ha said, “Some say that President Lee Myung-bak and the ruling New Frontier Party are intentionally dragging the strike out skew its content in their favor for the presidential election in December.”

KBS’s new union ended its strike after 93 days. Management and reporters agreed to establish a committee to ensure fair coverage of the December presidential election. There is, however, no sign of thawing in MBC’s situation. MBC’s union and company’s conflict is driving into catastrophe, like two trains facing each other on a single-track railway.

On June 8, the arrest warrants for MBC trade union executives were dismissed again by the court. Instead, Kim Jae-cheol then launched a full-scale attack, placing 34 union members in unattached positions and calling 13 members before a disciplinary committee on June 13.

The company is hurling more criticism at the unionists, citing a court injunction banning the obstruction of work against the trade union. The company posted pictures of the politicians of the opposition parties who participated in the strike and claimed it is a clear ‘political strike’.

MBC’s union said that they will not end the strike without President Kim’s resignation. Kim is accused of misusing two billion Korean won ($US 1.7 million). They added that MBC’s case is different from KBS, whose president Kim In-kyu, merely sent out orders from South Korean President Lee Myung-bak.

As the strike lengthens, the union members are suffering from financial difficulties. One reporter said, “I’ve not been paid for 5 months. I tried to extend a loan, but the interest rate increased from 7 percent to 11.5 percent.”

He added, “My wife recently got a job. I also felt that I had to get another job and once called a company to be a delivery man.”

The most serious problem is that there is no place for the union and management to communicate. A person from management said, “We don’t mind if we fire 100 of employees. Now we have a chance to incapacitate the union.” He added, “It’s their suffering if they stall like this.”

Management assumes that there are 300 core members among 800 total unionists.

There are some moderates in management who are concerned that, “Even though we arranged negotiations, there is nothing we can do for the unionists.”

Some members of the trade union say the company should suggest a reasonable cause to untie the deadlock. A union executive said, “If President Kim does not resign, they should propose a compromise second to that. We cannot solve the case with the same solution that KBS had.”

Some experts speculate that this month would be the hardest time for them because of the London Olympics, which will open on July 27.

The company has full confidence in their ability to cover the Olympics, saying they still can form a team without the strikers. They even decided to re-hire the former MBC announcer Kim Sung-joo, who once quit his job, and yet it seems to be difficult to comprise a big team.

“Early this August, there will be replacement of members of the board of Foundation for Broadcast Culture, the major shareholder of MBC,” one MBC unionist said.

“I expect the conflict to be resolved if new board members from the NFP try hard to oust President Kim, with leader Park Geun-hye’s firm resolution.”

Translated by Kim Ji-seung, Hankyoreh English intern

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