News

After a 99 days of strike by 1,200 union members and on the 10th day of hunger strike of Kim Hyun-Seok, KBS TV New Union President, the union announced to have reached a temporary agreement with the KBS TV management on June 6th. Final approval for the agreement will be obtained at the General Assembly on June 8th. In the agreement the union made important gains, such as provisions for establishing a fair reporting committee for the presidential election in December this year and for the reinstallation of Indepth News Reporting Program which was dismantled by the incumbent CEO of KBS TV.



“We applaud our Korean colleagues’ successful campaign and fight for freedom of speech and media independence”, said Gerry Morrissey, UNI MEI President. Philip Jennings, UNI General Secretary added that “this is a significant win for the union, for workers’ rights and for the independence of Korean public broadcasting”. Chris Ng, UNI APRO Regional Secretary underlined how this win was a result of a persistent and organised campaign by Korean media unions.



Lee Kang-Taek, the President of NUMW, commented that the agreement contains a partial victory for fair reporting, but that some critical issues still remain unresolved, such as the stepping down of CEO Kim In-Kyu, the reinstatement of dismissed union activists and members, and a national investigation on media control. MBC TV union, on its 129th day of strike and YTN, Kookmin Ilbo Daily Newspaper union will continue to fight.



UNI MEI has supported NUMW and its member unions throughout the campaign and will continue to support them in resolving the remaining issues.