The Korea Communications Standards Commission is considering severe punishment for KBS for airing 'Kimigayo' on Liberation Day.
'Sugar drunk driving video false report' JTBC also 'states opinion'
Seoul = News 1) Reporter Yang Sae-rom = The Korea Communications Standards Commission has decided to 'state the opinions of related parties' on KBS-1TV's 'KBS Broadcasting Seat', which broadcast the opera 'Madame Butterfly' featuring the Japanese national anthem on Liberation Day.
The Broadcasting and Communications Commission held a general meeting at the Mokdong Broadcasting Center in Seoul on the afternoon of the 2nd and decided this with the unanimous consent of all members.
The decisions of the Broadcasting and Communications Commission are divided into 'no problem', 'opinion submission' and 'recommendation' which are administrative guidance stages, and 'caution', 'warning', 'program correction/modification/suspension and disciplinary action against related parties', 'fine' which are legal sanctions. Legal sanctions are grounds for deducting points when re-licensing or re-approving broadcasting companies.
It is known that there is a high possibility of legal sanctions after a general statement of opinion has been made.
Commissioner Kim Jeong-su said, "The broadcasting station in question brought the measures taken after the accident occurred. They said they replaced the second part of (Madame Butterfly) with another program, stopped showing the show again on their website, and posted a statement containing an apology, but there was no mention of follow-up measures." He added, "I think we need to hear the opinions of the production team about how (the broadcast) came to be aired."
Commissioner Kang Kyung-pil also pointed out, "It is clear that a program that ran counter to the public sentiment was aired."
The Broadcasting and Communications Commission also unanimously made the same decision regarding JTBC's 'JTBC Newsroom', which reported incorrect closed-circuit TV (CCTV) footage related to BTS member Suga's drunk driving incident.
The broadcast reported on the 7th of last month that a man was Sugar and showed CCTV footage of him riding an electric scooter down a street, but a police investigation confirmed that the man in the footage was not Sugar.
Commissioner Ryu Hee-rim said in relation to this, "Last year, when we were conducting broadcast deliberation, we imposed legal sanctions on the broadcaster that cited the 'Kim Man-bae-Shin Hak-rim false recording'. We have imposed heavy punishments in similar cases." She added, "Of course, this time, it seems they were greedy, but I think we need to hear the opinions of those involved as to how an unconfirmed video came to be reported as if it were real."