S. KOREAN BROADCASTERS ESCALATE PROTEST AGAINST MEDIA REFORMS.

SEOUL, March 2 Asia Pulse - Hundreds of journalists and producers at four large television networks in South Korea will go on a 2-day strike this week to protest President Lee Myung-bak's sweeping media reforms, the media workers' union said Sunday.

Since he took office a year ago, President Lee has been at odds with local television stations which accuse him of attempting to tame and control the media by allowing right-leaning newspaper firms to own a stake in broadcasters. Lee's party unilaterally introduced the controversial bills to the parliament last Wednesday.

Workers at MBC and CBS are already on a partial strike that began last week, and the country's largest public broadcaster KBS and 24-hour cable news channel YTN will be joining them beginning Monday, the National Union of Media Workers said in a press release.

"More broadcasters will be deciding their future course of action according to the circumstances at the National Assembly," the union said. "The government should be prepared for an all-out war with media workers if the media reform bills are taken to a full-house parliamentary vote."

Leaders from Lee's Grand National Party (GNP) and the main opposition Democratic Party held lengthy discussions Sunday over the settlement of media reform and economy related bills, but failed to produce a significant outcome.

SBS and several other broadcasters said they will decide ...