Pres. Lee Fires KBS CEO Jung

President Lee Myung-bak yesterday dismissed the embattled head of the state-run Korean Broadcasting System Jung Yun-joo.

“President Lee signed a proposal to dismiss Jung at the request of the KBS board of directors this morning,” presidential spokesman Lee Dong-kwan told a news briefing. “We expect KBS will take this opportunity to correct mismanagement and recover fairness to be reborn as the people’s broadcast network.”

The KBS board will hold a meeting Wednesday on selecting Jung’s successor.

Jung, however, filed a court injunction to invalidate the dismissal order, saying the president does not have the power to fire the KBS chief under the Broadcasting Law.

The former executive also faces summons for questioning on embezzlement allegations from prosecutors as early as this week. Jung has snubbed five summonses.

Prosecutors applied for an arrest warrant against Jung and plan to charge him with embezzlement.

swpark@donga.com needjung@donga.com