Park Min put forward as new KBS CEO & President

IN FULL: 

A former newspaper journalist and editorial board member has been approved by the Board of the Korean Broadcasting System (KBS), to be the new President and CEO of the public broadcaster.

Five members of the KBS Board walked out of the vote in protest after their request to put forward a new nomination was rejected.

Meanwhile, a legal challenge to suspend the dismissal of the previous President and CEO of KBS, Kim Eui-chul, was turned down by the Court.

Park Min proposed as new candidate

Kim Eui-chul was dismissed in mid-September after a majority of the KBS Board accused him of weakening public trust and worsening finances. This came after several new members were appointed to the Board which shifted the balance of the 11-member Board, giving the conservative faction a majority of six to five.

During the vote to dismiss Mr. Kim, the five Liberal board members walked out in protest, saying the process lacked “legitimacy in terms of procedure and content.” Mr. Kim had been appointed under the previous Liberal government.

Twelve candidates for CEO were initially put forward in September. This was then whittled down to three, before the Board agreed upon Park Min as their final candidate on 13 October.

The vote to approve Mr. Park was marred by division. The Korea Times reported that five board members “walked out in protest after their demand for a new nomination was ignored.”

Ultimately, this had no impact on the final decision, and the South Korean President, Yoon Suk Yeol, approved the appointment of Mr. Park on 17 October, the Yonhap News Agency reported.

To now be appointed, Mr. Park will now undergo a parliamentary confirmation hearing either at the end of October or early November.

Park Min is currently an editorial writer for the Munwha Ilbo, a conservative-aligned newspaper. According to SpotTV News, he has also served as the Secretary of the Kwanhun Club – an association of South Korean journalists committed to the development of media and media freedom in South Korea. He also held the position of President of the Legal Journalists Club.

Appeal to suspend dismissal rejected

Following his dismissal, Mr. Kim promised to initiate legal proceedings to appeal the decision. A precedent has been set in recent decades for KBS CEOs and Presidents to be pushed out of their roles early, and courts have normally ruled in their favour.

An editorial in the Hankyoreh newspaper argued this was likely to occur again in this instance. “Considering precedents in which the court judged that presidents of public broadcasters should be given fixed terms in order to ensure broadcasting independence, the government is highly likely to lose its case. Still, the Yoon administration is repeating the wrongs of the past without any scruples, unabashed of its immoral undertaking.”

Despite this, previous legal battles have been protracted with the final decision arriving years after the dismissal took place.

However, on 20 October, Mr. Kim had an appeal to have his dismissal suspended was rejected by the Court. If successful, it would have led to the reimposition of Mr. Kim as CEO and President.