Over 1,000 KBS Employees Demand Resignation of President Kim Euicheol and Board Members

New KBS Gongtu Committee Issues Statement Urging "Total Resignation"
"Will File Injunction to Suspend Revision of License Fee Enforcement Decree"

About 1,000 KBS (Korean Broadcasting System) employees, facing a financial crisis due to the separate collection of TV license fees, have issued a statement demanding the resignation of President Kim Eui-cheol and the entire board of directors.

The 'Joint Struggle Committee of KBS Employees and Active Broadcasters for a New KBS (New KBS Joint Committee)' stated in their announcement on the 20th, "The revision of the enforcement decree for separate collection of license fees is progressing rapidly. The life of public broadcaster KBS is at stake," adding, "Without extraordinary decisions and bold actions, this crisis cannot be overcome. Therefore, we strongly urge President Kim to step down and the entire board to resign."

They continued, "President Kim has been incompetent as a manager and has not stopped biased broadcasting. KBS's treasury is empty and filled with moldy air," and criticized, "Above all, he lacks the qualification and ability to resolve the current KBS crisis. How can the one who caused the crisis solve it?"

More than 1,000 KBS employees, facing a financial crisis due to the separate collection of TV license fees, have issued a statement calling for the resignation of President Kim Ui-cheol and the entire board of directors.
[Photo by Yonhap News]

They also stated, "The ultimate responsibility for all these mistakes lies with the board of directors, KBS's highest decision-making body," adding, "They failed to check Kim Eui-cheol's unfair broadcasting and incompetent management and instead concealed and neglected it. Naturally, they must take responsibility by resigning en masse."

Furthermore, they declared, "We apologize to the public for KBS's shameful image that has disappointed the people, will take urgent measures regarding fair broadcasting, and will drastically change programming and management," emphasizing, "The first step in all these efforts is the resignation of the president and the entire board. Without their resignation, no problem can be solved."

The 'New KBS Joint Committee' is an organization formed by KBS employees belonging to two of the three KBS labor unions classified as conservative: the 'KBS Labor Union' and the 'Korea Federation of Journalists (Yeonchong).'

Meanwhile, KBS argues that if license fees are collected separately, funding will sharply decrease, making it difficult to fulfill its role as a public broadcaster. Accordingly, KBS announced on the 20th that it plans to file an injunction with the Constitutional Court on the 21st, requesting the suspension of the partial amendment process of the Broadcasting Act enforcement decree by the Korea Communications Commission.

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