Na Kyung-won: "'Hundred Million Won Salary' KBS Fee Increase? ... It's Disrespectful to the Public"

Mention of 'KBS Hundred Million Won Salary' Post from the 31st of Last Month
"Efforts to Correct Lax Management Must Be Practiced First"

Seoul Yeouido KBS Headquarters Photo by Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Juhyung] Na Kyung-won, the preliminary candidate of the People Power Party running for the April 7 Seoul mayoral by-election, expressed opposition to the increase in KBS license fees on the 1st. Na also commented on the controversy surrounding the so-called 'KBS employees with billion-won annual salaries post' that appeared on an anonymous online community that day.

In a post on her Facebook page that day, Na stated, "Increasing the KBS license fee now? I am against it," and emphasized, "There is a more important task before deciding whether to raise the license fee. That is to correct KBS's wasteful management practices."

She added, "If management efficiency and transparency are not guaranteed, it will be difficult for the KBS license fee increase to gain support or be justified."

Na Kyung-won, a candidate for the Seoul mayoral primary of the People Power Party. / Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

Na also referred to a post on the anonymous workplace community 'Blind' the previous day. The post, titled 'There are many complaints about our company,' was uploaded on the 31st of last month and is presumed to have been written by a KBS employee.

In the post, the user claimed, "No matter what you say, our company guarantees retirement, and the license fee is included in the electricity bill, so it must be paid regularly," and "The average annual salary is 100 million won, and there are no bonuses, so half of the employees receive over 100 million won annually."

They added, "Please stop criticizing our employees from outside, and if you have the ability and opportunity, become one of our colleagues." Blind is a community where users can verify their workplace through company email addresses, and the author of the post was confirmed to be a KBS employee.

A post by a netizen presumed to be a KBS employee, uploaded on the 31st of last month to the anonymous workplace community 'Blind'. / Photo by the anonymous workplace community 'Blind' post capture

Regarding this, Na criticized, "An internal employee even posted a message saying 'If you envy billion-won salaries, join us,' which is a great wound to the public," and asked, "How much deprivation and frustration would unemployed people who lost their jobs due to COVID-19 feel when they hear about KBS's billion-won salaries and license fee increases?"

She continued, "Efforts to correct wasteful management must be implemented first," and emphasized, "At least at this point, raising the license fee is not respectful to our people."

Meanwhile, KBS issued a statement on the same day regarding the controversial post on Blind.

In the statement, KBS said, "A post containing content that cannot be considered common sense among KBS members was posted," and "We deeply regret and apologize for causing discomfort to those who read it, regardless of the reason."

They added, "We will take this controversy as an opportunity for each employee, as members of a public broadcaster owned by the people, to reflect on themselves and adjust their mindset," and emphasized, "We will do our best to streamline the organization and improve management efficiency through wage system improvements and job redesign."

Earlier, on the 27th of last month, KBS submitted a proposal to the KBS board to raise the license fee from 2,500 won to 3,840 won per month. KBS's license fee revenue was 670.5 billion won (as of 2019), accounting for about 46% of the total budget. If the license fee is raised as proposed, revenue is expected to increase to 1.0411 trillion won, accounting for 53.4% of the total budget.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.