KBS announce new President & CEO

Mr. Yang Sung-dong has become the 23rd President and CEO of the Korean Broadcasting System (KBS) at a ceremony in Seoul on 9 April.

The new appointment is a first for South Korea’s KBS, whereby Mr. Yang was recommended by a group of 142 members of the public known as the Ad Hoc Public Advisory Group based on his views of public broadcasting and future plans for the organisation.

According to a KBS press release, Yang Sung-dong has worked with the broadcaster since 1989, initially as a television producer. Since then he has directed an array of factual programmes and served as President of the KBS Producers and Directors’ Association as well as Executive Director of Programming and Production of KBS Busan between 2013 and 2015.

Speaking at his inauguration ceremony, Mr. Yang reiterated the need to involve new, younger staff members in the decision process and maintain KBS’s editorial independence, “free from political power as well as influence over the power of capital.”