Police Decide No Charges Against Park Min, KBS President, in 'Joo Jin-woo Departure' Case

KBS "Police Judge Insufficient Evidence... Head of Programming and Radio Center Also Cleared"
KBS Union Headquarters "Regret Police Decision... Will Request Reinvestigation"

On the 28th, KBS announced that Park Min, KBS president, and others who were accused of unfairly removing Joo Jin-woo, host of the radio program 'Joo Jin-woo Live,' last November, received a police decision of non-prosecution.

KBS explained in a press release that "the Seoul Yeongdeungpo Police Station decided on the 14th of this month to 'non-prosecute' (no charges) the case in which the National Union of Mediaworkers KBS Headquarters filed a complaint with the Seoul Southern District Prosecutors' Office against President Park, the head of KBS Programming Headquarters, and the head of the Radio Center for violating the Broadcasting Act."

It continued, "The police stated in the non-prosecution decision that it was clearly confirmed that the head of the Programming Headquarters and the head of the Radio Center received appointment approval on November 12 last year, that the replacement programming of the radio programs 'Joo Jin-woo Live,' 'Choegang Sisa,' and 2TV's 'The Live' took place after the personnel appointments, and that it is clear that the Programming Headquarters head and Radio Center head have programming authority."

Furthermore, "The police explained the reason for non-prosecution by stating that even though the heads of Programming Headquarters and Radio Center informed the responsible PD and programming manager by phone immediately after their appointments that the programs would be replaced, and implemented the program replacement without consulting the production team, it is difficult to consider these acts as criminal offenses even if they violate regulations or agreements, and it is hard to see that they violated the Broadcasting Act through unfair acts." KBS also conveyed that "in the case of President Park, the police added that there was insufficient evidence of his involvement in the program replacement and thus he was cleared of charges."

The National Union of Mediaworkers KBS Headquarters expressed "regret over the police's non-prosecution decision" and stated, "We believe there are errors in the police decision and plan to request a reinvestigation." They added, "Although the personnel appointments of the Programming Headquarters head and Radio Center head were dated November 13 last year, the police considered their authority to have started from the time President Park approved it. We will challenge this point again."

Previously, the National Union of Mediaworkers KBS Headquarters filed a complaint last November accusing President Park and others of violating the Broadcasting Act by unfairly removing Joo Jin-woo and deleting 'The Live' from the programming. The union claimed that on the first day of Park's term, a nominee who had not yet been appointed as Radio Center head ordered Joo's removal, and that the Programming Headquarters head abolished 'The Live' ignoring procedures.

Meanwhile, KBS stated that since President Park's inauguration, all requests filed by the National Union of Mediaworkers KBS Headquarters concerning the company's programming changes and host replacements?including petitions for national audits, injunction applications, and unfair labor practice relief requests?have been rejected.

KBS said, "The petition for a national audit filed with the Board of Audit and Inspection by the National Union of Mediaworkers KBS Headquarters on the grounds of violations of programming regulations by President Park and others was all dismissed or rejected on February 26 this year, and the injunction application filed with the Seoul Southern District Court for prohibition of collective agreement violations was dismissed on January 22." It added, "The unfair labor practice relief request filed with the Seoul Regional Labor Relations Commission was also dismissed on February 15, and the special labor inspection petition filed with the Seoul Southern Branch of the Ministry of Employment and Labor was rejected on February 13."

In response, the National Union of Mediaworkers KBS Headquarters stated, "The Board of Audit and Inspection only requested document submission and dismissed the national audit petition without investigation. We will file again once the Board normalizes." They also said, "We have appealed the injunction dismissal decision, and a hearing at the High Court is scheduled soon. The unfair labor practice relief request dismissed by the Regional Labor Relations Commission will also be reviewed by the Central Labor Relations Commission."