Court Rules to Cancel Kwon Tae-seon’s Dismissal by KCC as MBC Director

The Korea Communications Commission (KCC) has been ordered by the court to cancel the dismissal of Kwon Tae-seon, chairman of the Broadcasting Culture Promotion Foundation (Bangmunjin), which took place in August last year. Bangmunjin is the major shareholder of MBC.

On the 19th, the Administrative Division 5 of the Seoul Administrative Court (Chief Judge Kim Sun-yeol) ruled in favor of the plaintiff in the lawsuit filed by Chairman Kwon against the KCC, seeking to cancel his dismissal as a director of Bangmunjin. The court did not disclose specific reasons during the hearing that day.

In August last year, the KCC held a closed plenary meeting and resolved to dismiss Chairman Kwon. The reasons cited were failure to fulfill management and supervision duties over MBC and its affiliates, and inadequate verification during the appointment process of the MBC president. Subsequently, in September last year, Kim Seong-geun, former head of MBC's Broadcasting Infrastructure Headquarters, was appointed as Kwon’s successor. The media industry criticized this move as an attempt by the Yoon Seok-yeol administration to seize control of public broadcasting.

Chairman Kwon immediately filed an appeal and requested a suspension of the dismissal’s effect. The court accepted Kwon’s request for suspension in September last year. Although the KCC also appealed, it was not accepted.