A Seoul court has imposed 8 million won ($7,300) in fines on a chief of local broadcaster MBC for not attending parliamentary audits, court officials said Tuesday.

The Seoul Southern District Court found Kim Jae-chul, the chief of the major broadcaster, guilty of not responding to the government’s call to appear at the hearings and audits of the National Assembly in October of last year, they said.

The audits were held as part of the government’s drive to probe into a six-month strike by hundreds of MBC employees who demanded that Kim resign over what they call the broadcaster’s biased coverage of politically sensitive issues.

The strike was called off in July of last year after the ruling and opposition parties reached an agreement on efforts to settle the dispute, which the union said may open the way for Kim’s departure.

The top shareholder of MBC in November voted down a proposal to dismiss the 60-year-old Kim. (Yonhap News)