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Lee Byong-soon, the 59-year-old chief of KBS Business, was nominated as the new head of probably Korea¡¯s most influential public broadcaster on Monday. President Lee Myung-bak plans to appoint him to the post on Tuesday. Lee will head KBS for the remainder of the term of Jung Yun-joo, who was fired earlier this month, which ends in November next year.
The KBS board of directors met Monday and interviewed four candidates; it decided on Lee Byong-soon and submitted the necessary documents to the Ministry of Public Administration and Security.
Lee started out as a reporter for KBS in 1977, and has been chief of KBS Changwon Station and head of the new media division. If appointed, he will become the first person from inside KBS to become the network¡¯s president. The KBS labor union has been protesting against high-handed personnel decisions but was apparently mollified by the nomination and withdrew the protests. Only some die-hard supporters of Jung resisted, trying to prevent the board meeting.
The reaction among politicians was mixed. Grand National Party spokesman Yoon Sang-hyun said, ¡°We have full faith in Lee as a professional CEO with expertise in KBS and broadcasting, and that he will revive the reputation of KBS as the national public broadcaster.¡± But opposition Democratic Party spokesman Cho Jeong-sik warned his party will ¡°thoroughly investigate¡± by National Assembly audit if there was intervention from Cheong Wa Dae in the nomination process.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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