New president and CEO appointed for South Korean pubcaster MBC

The Foundation for Broadcast Culture, the majority shareholder of South Korean public broadcaster MBC, has appointed Lee Sung-joo as the TV company’s president and CEO, with the move to be made official at a shareholders’ meeting in Seoul this morning.

Lee Sung-joo

Lee, who previously served as the business director at digital subsidiary iMBC, secures a three-year term at the helm of one of the country’s leading terrestrial networks. He succeeds the outgoing management team following a selection process that incorporated a newly established citizen participation panel to vet candidates for the public broadcasting role.

A veteran journalist who originally joined MBC’s newsroom in 1995, Lee has held various prominent roles within the organisation, including serving as the head of the MBC labour union during pivotal regulatory and operational transitions over the past decade.

In a statement released by the broadcaster following the confirmation of his appointment, Lee outlined his immediate operational priorities for the network amid an increasingly competitive domestic streaming and traditional broadcast landscape.

“We stand at a critical juncture where public broadcasting must reinforce its core journalistic integrity while aggressively modernising its digital delivery systems,” Lee said. “MBC will focus on expanding its content footprint both locally and internationally, ensuring our programming remains competitive in a rapidly evolving global media ecosystem.”

The appointment comes at a time of significant restructuring across South Korea’s public media sector, as traditional broadcasters face intensifying financial pressure from local SVoD platforms such as Coupang Play and TVing, alongside global market leader Netflix.

MBC, alongside KBS and SBS, is a major shareholder in the fourth-place Korean streamer Wavve, which is attempting to merge with TVing, a process that has dragged for three years and faces resistance from some shareholders.

Further details regarding Lee’s executive cabinet and specific programming strategies for MBC’s television and digital portfolios are expected to be announced to corporate partners and the press in the coming weeks.