Yonhap News Agency, South Korea's state newswire, has appointed Kim Byung-soo, head of the Korean Diaspora Center, as its new editorial bureau chief. Yonhap said on the 15th that Kim will begin a one-year, six-month term on the 16th. The move follows the end of Shim In-seong’s term as editorial bureau chief.
Kim secured the required approval from staff reporters through the agency's consent process. Over a three-day vote that concluded on the 15th, 426 of 528 eligible reporter employees (80.7%) participated, and a majority voted in favor, completing the confirmation. When Yonhap names a candidate for editorial bureau chief, the union vets nominees on the company bulletin board and conducts an anonymous, secret-ballot vote for appointment consent.
Kim joined Yonhap in January 1995 and has worked on both the political and economic desks. He previously served as head of media strategy and public relations, chief of the U.S. bureau, and head of the Korean Diaspora Center. Kim said, "Yonhap’s editorial independence is an inviolable right of its staff," and added, "I will stake everything on protecting editorial independence and fair reporting."
Before confirming his appointment, the Yonhap branch of the journalists' union sent an initial questionnaire requesting Kim's positions on several issues: the controversy over weakening the specialized-reporter system; plans to respond to editorial audits; his stance on the case in which a story about the Hyundai chairman’s eldest son was corrected on a news portal; concerns about Yonhap's mechanical neutrality in reporting; views on the personnel evaluation system; and proposals to address staffing shortages in regional reporting bureaus.
Kim replied that maintaining the specialized-reporter system is necessary to strengthen Yonhap's content expertise. He said that, as editorial bureau chief, he will be the final authority on the agency’s reporting and editing and will, representing all reporters and irrespective of his position, respond firmly to any improper attempts inside or outside the company to interfere with editorial rights.
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