Lee Hyo-sik is Finance Desk editor at The Korea Times. He manages finance-related stories on macroeconomics, banks, stocks, bonds, crypto etc. He is passionate about covering what's happening in Korea's financial industry and explaining it to both Korean and non-Korean readers. You can reach him at leehs@koreatimes.co.kr. Your insights and feedbacks are always appreciated.
Blind TV news anchor makes debut
Lee Chang-hoon, the country’s first disabled news anchor, made a successful debut on the state-run broadcaster KBS Monday.
Lee, a disabled man with grade-1 visual impairment, hosts a section called “Lee Chang-hoon’s Life News” on “KBS News 12” aired at noon from Monday to Friday.
Before the much-awaited debut, he underwent a three-month training program as a cub anchor. The 25-year-old was recruited in July after receiving high scores from all the judges during a news reading test. A total of 523 people applied for the job.
“I am glad that I performed better in a real setting than in practice. It should have been perfect but I made a few mistakes. But still I feel pretty good about how I did my job,” Lee said at an interview held after he completed his first live news program on Monday.
The anchorman then said he had a hard time pronouncing words correctly and understanding the content of the news. “I studied various social issues during the training session. I also pronounced the same words again and again until I said them correctly. I would like to become a successful news anchor and a role model for the disabled.”
Born in Jinju in South Gyeongsang Province, Lee lost his sight after suffering an inflammation of the brain and spinal cord when he was seven-months old. He was enrolled in the Hanbit School for the Blind for elementary school courses. Lee majored in social welfare at the Graduate School of Soongsil University.