Will KBS Wake Up when It Is Forced to Shut Down?

2019/1/20, Kahng Gyoo-hyoung’s Column

• What is the report that 4 members of the National Union of Media Workers control KBS?
• KBS tries to resume purges through the Audit and Inspection Office
• KBS reportings that are set on defending National Assemblywoman Sohn Hye-won
• There’s no future for KBS if it continues like this

The so-called public broadcasters KBS [Korean Broadcasting Service, government owned] and MBC [Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation, the majority shareholder is the Foundation for Broadcast Culture (방송문화진흥회), a non-profit public corporation] have degenerated into [South Korean] history’s worst case of broadcast control.  The problem is even worse because it is a broadcast control stemming from the collusion with the National Union of Media Workers (NUMW) [falls under the militant Korean Confederation of Trade Unions or KCTU], which is an outside force.

In addition, it is not easy to adapt to the changing media environment and to survive, but the current management and the members of the NUMW union are focused on internal purges.  It seems that MBC, which has already gone through the purges and turmoil, has not been interested in improving management efficiency or broadcasting quality. MBC’s News Desk’s rating is down to 1%…and In 2018, there was an enormous operational loss of 120 billion won ($107 million).  But they completely overlook this crisis and focus only on supporting the current administration’s positions.

KBS could not conduct purges as desired [earlier].  There are a few reasons why during the process of achieving broadcast control, I chose to resist, which only brought me suffering and no personal gain.  One reason was to delay the NUMW union, which acted like a suppressive force that was anxious to control, from taking over KBS, by even one day. The other reason is to delay as long as possible the merciless firing and cruel intimidation of employees whose thoughts are different from their own, which was already occurring at MBC.  MBC already fell [to the NUMW union] in mid-October [2018]…Fortunately, the court put the brakes on the KBS’ purge committee–“Truth and Future Committee” (진실과미래위원회) or Jinmiwi (진미위 for short),which began its activities [of purging] as soon as it was created. The purge halted because it lost the “golden timing.” But the [Moon] administration and NUMW  placed Kim Young-heon (김영헌), NUMW’s key person, as KBS’s auditor, and are set to restart the purging.

Not surprisingly, Kim Young-heon, the auditor, said at a KBS board of directors meeting, “For the next 6 months, I’ll focus on past events, rather than daily audits” and let it be known that the purging that began in the “Truth and Future Commission” (Jinmiwi) will be picked up and completed with additional investigations.  Jinmiwi’s operations that were halted also resumed.

If they are looking at past events, wouldn’t it be fair to first investigate KBS president Yang Seung-dong (양승동), who perjured with lies after lies, and vice president Jung Pil-mo (정필모), who was appointed to the vice president illegally and reigns as the chairman of the euphemistically named “Truth and Future Commission?”  KBS labor union #2 [also known as NUMW’s KBS branch], made an issue over former president Gil Hwan-young (길환영) taking a commemorative photo at Paengmok Port (the port where Sewol Ferry was recovered) and demanded he resign. Yang has repeatedly used the Sewol Ferry sinking politically. Why is NUMW not only silent [on the issue], but is defending president Yang who went to a Karaoke bar with employees and paid for the entertainment with a corporate card on the night of the Sewol Ferry sinking?  President Yang’s perjury further shows as he shifted from “I absolutely didn’t go” to “I may have used the card, but I don’t remember” when the evidence surfaced to “I went, but I didn’t drink.” Isn’t it more appropriate for the labor union #2 (NUMW), which defends such perjury, to become the object of the investigation?

Do they really want to turn KBS into yet another stage for the mad executioner’s sword dance?  KBS will have to adapt to the new media environment if it is to survive, but it is so focused on such [acts], that its operations will suffer.  KBS turned itself around and barely started to operate in black in 2016 and 2017 under the previous management. However, the management results of the “Yangsung Circle” (Yang Sung-dong and NUMW union at KBS) are expected to result in a loss of about 70 billion to 80 billion won ($62 million to $71 million).  They have such a loss despite receiving a whopping 640 billion won ($568 million), which means the taxes from the taxpayers still must make up all the difference. Some may say “It is not my own money,” and not pay attention, but because of this incompetence and indifference, the value of KBS is gradually eroding.  Although the losses are accumulating, the losses become more exacerbated and the bias becomes even greater when [KBS] pays an annual salary of 700 million won ($622,000) to Kim Je-dong, who suffered a disgrace during broadcasting because he did not know when the Soviet Union was created. Kim Je-dong’s program maintains a low rating of 2-3%.

Sung Jae-ho, the chairman of labor union #2 (NUMW) during the time of the broadcast seizure said they (he and the labor union #2) have “greater interests in justice rather than reporting facts.”  Thus continues the extremely biased broadcasting of what only they think is “just.” The economy is falling, North Korea’s denuclearization is proving to be a fraud, and the corruption of the ruling power and the KCTU are reaching an extreme.  Who wants to pay TV fees and use taxes to preserve the loss-making operations of a propaganda broadcaster?

That is why the “Special Committee to Stop KBS from Destroying the Constitution and to Separate Broadcasting Fees Collected” headed by the National Assemblymen Park Dae-chul, Liberty Korea Party, was created.  Also, that is why the “Refusal of Broadcast Fee Challenge” video relay that began with Assemblyman Park is spreading throughout the society. Despite these activities, KBS is not aware of the seriousness at all.  The propaganda [organization] that broadcasts only its biased “justice,” as Seong Jae-ho expressed, has already passed the “ttangjeon news” of the 5th Republic [Chun Doo-hwan era] and is approaching the level of Stalin’s and the Soviet Union’s state broadcasting agency Pravda rife with agitation and propaganda.

PennMike’s president and the chief editor Jeong Kyu-jae recently quoted a famous historical quote while discussing the KBS issue.  “Pravda doesn’t exist in Pravda.”  Pravda means truth or fact in Russian.  It is a sharp satire that there is only propaganda, and facts (Pravda) do not exist in the Pravda newspaper.  [Personnel of] the Soviet-era Pravda newspaper also thought they reported “justice,” and left out facts, and consistently took steps to praise only the government and communism.  KBS and MBC are interested only in supporting and defending the [current] government and the North Korean regime, and are busy covering up the mistakes of their higher authority, the KCTU.

The people are upset by the scandal involving the National Assemblywoman Sohn Hye-won [Deoburreo Minju Party], which is revealing its hideousness. However, KBS and MBC coverage showed the “restrained broadcast model” in representing the Assemblywoman Sohn, who is close to the First Lady.

During the NUMW labor union’s process of controlling broadcasters, there were former board members who took a vague attitude, whether intentionally or not and whether due to pressure.  At the moment of crisis, the mask of the person is removed and the true face appears. Several times, the KBS Public Broadcasters Union’s [labor union #3 (3노조), this labor union stands opposite of NUMW] statement criticized their [board of directors] behavior directly.  

Last year, the Board of Audit and Inspection completed its periodic audit and inspection, and concluded that  there was no problem with the corporate card used by the board directors. A strange situation then occurred–the NUMW union requested a special audit that included all board members nominated by the opposition party, except for one, and only one board member nominated by the ruling party.  It’s strange how the NUMW left out one board member, as if to let him off the hook.

That board member finally banged the gavel himself to fire then president Ko Dae-young (고대영).  As soon as I was dismissed, NUMW accused four directors (Lee In-ho 이인호, Kahng Gyoo-hyoung 강규형, Cha Ki-hwan 차기환, and Lee Won-il 이원일) appointed by the opposition party [opposition party now, but the ruling party when the nomination occurred] and filed charges with the prosecutor’s office, as if to teach those they hated a lesson.  It is unknown how the two additional opposition party-appointed board members were left out of this act of revenge.

In addition, it turned out that one of them praised Kim Sang-kun (김상근), the current board chairman, in various places, raising people’s suspicions. What aspect of Chairman Kim is so splendid? It is strange how the one who had been in the forefront in the [current] power taking over control of KBS, a pro-North Korea leftist, and someone who led the establishment of the purging entity Jinmiwi could be considered so excellent.

In the end, only myself, the one that NUMW wants to “teach the lesson” the most, is left as the object of the investigation [of NUMW charges filed with the prosecution] and I alone am fighting the legal battle. The new opposition party-nominated directors should be prepared to block the tyranny of the current management and the NUMW media union with redoubled efforts.

Seong Jae-ho (성재호) “actively worked” to control broadcasts and thus caught the attention of president Yang Sung-dong (양승동) and vice president Jung Pil-mo (정필모).  The responsibility for the bizarre management of KBS falls not only to people like Seong Jae-ho, but others as well–the story that four influential people from NUMW are running KBS is also credible.  KBS labor union’s [labor union #1, different from labor union #2 or labor union #3] bulletin board No. 383 (July 31, 2018) named the ‘four big shots’ who control KBS in the report titled “4 Influential People Controlling KBS.”  Kim Seong-il, “influential person #1” (김성일, “실세 1호”), Eom Gyeong-cheol, “#2” (엄경철, “2호”), Choi Seon-wook, “#3” (최선욱, ”3호”), and Lee Do-gyeong, #4 (이도경, “4호“). The names precisely match the names I heard. There’s a talk that these four people plus Seong Jae-ho and other leading activists of NUMW run KBS.  On the same labor union #1’s bulletin board, there is an additional explanation that all of the management below the KBS president tiptoe around the four people above.

Furthermore, the “influential person #2” Eom Gyeong-cheol was the emcee of the “KBS Current Situation Debate,” (KBS시사토론), which had a controversy about bias, and became a main anchor for “KBS 9 o’clock News” several days ago.  The program would obviously be biased. If the KBS labor union’s (labor union #1) bulletin reports are true, then what kind of responsibility are they [“influential people”] willing to bear later for them to do whatever they want, to produce expedient and biased broadcasts, and to manage incompetently and only focus on purging? Aren’t they afraid of the judgment that will come in the future?

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Kahng Gyoo-hyoung, Guest Columnist (Professor, Myongji University, former Board Member of Governors, KBS), https://www.pennmike.com/news/articleView.html?idxno=14872

[Note:  Names are presented Korean-style, so last name first.  The English spelling are phonetically spelt, but may not be the way the person choose to spell it.]