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| ▲ The headquarters of Yonhap News Agency in downtown Seoul is seen in this undated file photo. (Yonhap) |
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| ▲ A man holds the complaint paper filed against Eulji Education Foundation Chairman Park Joon-young and Eulji Medical Center Chairwoman Hong Sung-hee for breach of trust on Nov. 22, 2023. (Yonhap) |
Yonhap News TV-takeover bid
Yonhap News calls on broadcasting watchdog to reject education foundation's takeover bid of TV affiliate
SEOUL, Nov. 23 (Yonhap) -- Yonhap News Agency has called on the state broadcasting watchdog to block an education foundation's move to take control of its 24-hour cable news channel affiliate, citing the foundation's "grave disqualifications," the news agency said Thursday.
Yonhap, South Korea's key news wire agency, submitted a written opinion on the matter to the Korea Communications Commission (KCC) on Wednesday, about a week after Eulji Education Foundation filed a request to be recognized as Yonhap News TV's largest shareholder.
"Eulji has grave disqualifications to become the biggest shareholder of Yonhap News TV ... The KCC should conduct a stern and thorough review on the matter as it does when deliberating a license for a broadcaster," it said in the statement.
Yonhap News Agency is currently the No. 1 shareholder of Yonhap News TV with a 29.89 percent share, slightly below the 30 percent cap stipulated by the Broadcasting Act.
Exploiting loopholes, Eulji has increased its share to 30.08 percent and is awaiting the KCC's approval.
Yonhap has accused Eulji of pushing for a hostile takeover of its TV affiliate, saying the KCC's approval of the move may "greatly damage" the "business stability" of broadcasting stations in the future.
"If this becomes a precedent, other cable channels or news channels can be exposed to hostile M&A attempts at anytime."
Yonhap has also filed a complaint against Eulji Education Foundation Chairman Park Joon-young and his wife, Hong Sung-hee, the chairwoman of Eulji Medical Center, on charges of breach of trust.
The two are accused of making the medical center donate its 600,000 shares in Yonhap News TV to Eulji Education Foundation in August in order to help the latter become the biggest shareholder of the TV channel.
In the statement, the news agency also pointed out Park was given a suspended prison term in 2018 for taking narcotic painkiller pethidine 3,161 times over 4 1/2 years, raising questions about the appropriateness of Park's foundation operating a news channel.
"South Korea's media industry has never seen this wicked act of robbing the ownership of a broadcasting station through hostile acquisition and purchase of shares," Yonhap said.
"We are deeply concerned Yonhap News TV's reputation and its shareholders' value will be damaged because of the second biggest shareholder's attempt to take over its management rights."
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