A KBS children’s program under fire for using celebrities who committed suicide as material for edutainment 

KBS Kids YouTube channel “Little K”’s children’s program “Witch’s Room” is subject to legal sanctions.

On November 15th, the Broadcasting Standards Subcommittee of the Korea Communications Standards Commission (KCSC) decided to pay attention to the August 27 episode of “Witch’s Room” at a meeting.

This episode of “Witch’s Room” contains a connection to the ghost story in which many ghosts are celebrities who ended their lives.

“Witch’s Room” freely introduced ghost stories using photos of the late singer U;Nee.

U;Nee made her debut through KBS1’s 1996 drama “New Generation Report – Adults Don’t Know”, and later continued to be active in dramas, sitcoms, and singing activities.

In January 2007, she couldn’t stand malicious comments on her personal homepage that degraded her appearance. She was found dead at the young age of 25.

Regarding U;Nee’s death, “Witch’s Room” explained, “Even though she was a person who had no intention of dying, she made an unjust and extreme choice.”

Not stopping here, “Witch’s Room” even referred to other late celebrities such as Jeong Da Bin, Choi Jin Sil, and Jang Ja Yeon, and broadcast images depicting their suicide. 

Viewers have pointed out that it is not appropriate to use celebrities who took their own lives as material for children’s programs.

A civil complaint was filed to the effect that the broadcast including the content was not suitable for viewers aged 12 or older. 

Yoon Seong Ok, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, said, “The choice of suicide due to malicious comments is a social problem and a personal and tragic event. It is very inappropriate to freely link these issues with ghosts and use them as a material for entertainment programs.” 

Kim Woo Seok, member of the People’s Power Committee, also expressed concern, saying, “I don’t know what lessons I found in the program.”

Meanwhile, “Witch’s Room” is a children’s program that introduces spooky subjects in the world, such as legends, ghost stories, and mysteries.

The production team said in a written statement, “The episode has been suspended, and if it is impossible to modify the content, the episode will be deleted. We will try to produce and organize the program with more careful consideration of the children’s viewing protection time and the viewers’ emotional development process.”

This controversial episode has been deleted from the YouTube channel.

Source: Insight