S Korea's cable news station fires six union leaders

SEOUL, Oct. 7 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's cable news network YTN took punitive action Tuesday against employees who led protests opposing the network's newly appointed chief, firing six of them.

Since President Lee Myung-bak's appointment of the new chief, Gu Bon-hong,
unionized journalists from the country's 24-hour news network have been staging
sit-ins for over 80 days to block Gu from entering his office.
The disciplinary committee has been in discussions from late last month over how
to punish union leaders. It eventually decided to dismiss six of them, including
union president Noh Jong-myeon, while others were suspended and given warnings or
pay cuts.
The union immediately reacted with an emergency meeting.
"We decided to walk off the job as our final resort," said a union member,
speaking on condition of anonymity. "We will demand a review of the punishment
and seek legal procedures."
The Lee government has been criticized for replacing chiefs of major broadcasters
including YTN, KBS, and Arirang TV, an English cable station, with those
supportive of his conservative administration.