Hyun-seung elected new president of Yonhap News Agency

Yonhap News Agency, South Korea's key news service, on Friday elected Song Hyun-seung, a director of Yonhap Infomax, as its new president and chief executive officer in a shareholders and board meeting. Song's election came after the board of the News Agency Promotion Foundation, Yonhap's largest shareholder, decided to recommend him as Yonhap's new president in a meeting on March 7. The 58-year-old Song will replace Park Jung-chan and complete the remaining two years of his tenure. Song, a graduate of Korea University, joined Yonhap in 1983 and had served in key posts of the company, including editor of the city and political desks, and as managing director before moving to Yonhap Infomax, the financial news and market intelligence arm of Yonhap News, in 2006. Three new executives were also appointed. Editorial writer Shin Heon-tae was appointed as executive vice president; Oh Jae-seok, chief director of Overseas Koreans News Center, was appointed as managing director for business and international affairs; and Kwon Oh-yun, consultant for the International News Bureau, was appointed as managing director for general affairs. Yonhap News Agency is South Korea's key newswire service that produces content for newspapers, broadcasters, Internet portals, the government and private enterprises, distributing some 3,000 news articles per day. Yonhap also has 62 reporting staff in 46 major cities in 35 countries as well as the most extensive nationwide network in South Korea, and provides daily news in Korean, English, Chinese, Japanese, French, Arabic and Spanish.