[Photo] Dismissed MBC journalists return to work

Lee Yong-ma scans his card at the security checkpoint of the MBC headquarters buildings with the help of MBC President Choi Seung-ho on Dec. 11.. (by Shin So-young, staff photographer)

Calling it, “a dream I don’t want to wake up from,” reporter Lee Yong-ma and five other dismissed MBC reporters and producers returned to the network for the first time on Dec. 11. The journalists were reinstated to their jobs by new MBC President Choi Seung-ho, who himself had been dismissed for nearly 2,000 days after a dispute with management. More than 600 members of the MBC branch of the National Union of Mediaworkers laid a red carpet to the front entrance of the network headquarters in the Mapo District of Seoul, and waited outside in temperatures of -8 degrees Celsius to welcome their colleagues. Employees waived yellow handkerchiefs symbolizing the message: “We were waiting for you.”

MBC President Choi Seung-ho, who had been dismissed by the network in 2012, walks past MBC employees waving yellow handkerchiefs into the company’s headquarters in the Mapo District of Seoul on Dec. 11. (by Shin So-young, staff photographer)

MBC President Choi Seung-ho, who had been dismissed by the network in 2012, walks past MBC employees waving yellow handkerchiefs into the company’s headquarters in the Mapo District of Seoul on Dec. 11. (by Shin So-young, staff photographer)

MBC employees present a bouquet of flowers tied with a yellow handkerchief to MBC President Choi Seung-ho and other newly reinstated reporters of the network. (by Shin So-young, staff photographer)

(From left) Technical Supervisor Jeong Young-ha, MBC President Choi Seung-ho, reporter Lee Yong-ma, producer Kang Ji-woong, reporter Park Seong-jae, and reporter Park Seung-ho, are welcomed back to MBC during their first day of work on Dec. 11.

MBC President Choi Seung-ho, reporter Lee Yong-ma, and other newly reinstated MBC journalists move to the welcoming party held during their first day of work at the network’s headquarters in the Mapo District of Seoul on Dec. 11. (by Shin So-young staff photographer)

Newly reinstated reporter Lee Yong-ma holds his newly issued employee ID card as he makes his way to his office at the network’s headquarters in the Mapo District of Seoul on Dec. 11. (by Shin So-young, staff photographer)

MBC President Choi Seung-ho, who had been dismissed by the network in 2012, walks past MBC employees waving yellow handkerchiefs into the company’s headquarters in the Mapo District of Seoul on Dec. 11. (by Shin So-young, staff photographer)