By Bae Ji-sook
Staff Reporter
MBC President Ohm Ki-young offered Monday to resign from his post, two months after withdrawing a previous decision to step down.
A source inside MBC said Ohm decided to step down because he was not allowed to name his deputies independently.
It is speculated that he has been approached by the opposition Democratic Party to run for the governorship of Gangwon Province in the local elections slated for June.
The state-controlled Foundation for Broadcast Culture (FBC), MBC's largest shareholder with a 70 percent stake, has appointed board members that are considered to be conservative and pro-government.
"What do you expect me to do with them? They want me to leave," Ohm was quoted as saying at an FBC meeting Monday.
Last December, he offered to resign together with four other executives. The foundation accepted the resignations except for Ohm's.
Ohm was under constant pressure from the foundation headed by Kim U-ryong, a former media advisor to President Lee Myung-bak and the governing Grand National Party (GNP), to take responsibility for what he called the social rift and confusion caused by MBC's program, PD Notebook.
The government blames the program for triggering months of protests by more than 2 million participants last year against the resumption of U.S. beef imports.
Although a court recently cleared the MBC program of any charges, the TV network has since been mired in a deficit with many companies withdrawing advertisements.
The leadership structures of major television networks have undergone sweeping changes after the Lee administration took office.
Jung Yun-joo, former chief of the state-run KBS, was dismissed by the government-appointed board for "management inefficiency" in 2008. Though he was cleared of the charges, he was not reinstated.
Lee Byung-soon and Kim In-kyu, KBS' former and incumbent presidents, respectively, worked as advisors to President Lee during his campaign days.
MBC unionists vowed a general strike against the government-orchestrated restructuring plan. A group of them tried to disrupt the board meeting early Monday but failed.
"We will not let the media's neutrality be tarnished by political powers," a union leader was quoted as saying.
Ohm started his career as a reporter in 1974 but soon gained some popularity as an anchorman for the station's primetime news program, "News Desk." He was named to the post in 2008 for a three-year term.