New president of major broadcaster MBC sworn in

The newly elected president of South Korea's second-largest TV network MBC took office on Tuesday, vowing to rebuild the company's status as one of the nation's most popular TV channels by providing differentiated programming.

Ahn Kwang-han, who led MBC's cable TV unit, MBC Plus Media, was officially elected MBC's president in a shareholders' meeting on Friday. MBC's largest shareholder, the Foundation for Broadcast Culture, has a 70 percent stake in the broadcaster.

"We'll focus on making high-quality content and turn it into a new engine for growth," he said during an inauguration ceremony at the MBC headquarters in Seoul.

The 57-year-old chief also vowed efforts to reignite the global boom of South Korean pop culture known as "hallyu" by reviving the TV station's capacity to make appealing and differentiated programs.

A graduate of Korea University, Ahn started his career at the TV channel as a producer in 1982. He worked as vice president under former president Kim Jae-chul whose alleged political bias in favor of then-President Lee Myung-bak sparked a six-month-long strike by unionized MBC employees in 2012.

Ahn will serve his three-year term as MBC president until 2017. (Yonhap)