Petition for Kim Eo-jun's Removal from Blue House Gains 290,000 Signatures
Pro-Government Broadcasts with Conspiracy Theories... Controversy Over High Appearance Fees
[Asia Economy Reporter Han Seung-gon] The high appearance fees of Kim Eo-jun, the host of TBS Radio's "Kim Eo-jun's News Factory," which has been criticized as a "pro-government" broadcast, continue to spark controversy. The Board of Audit and Inspection (BAI) stated that TBS "falls under the scope of audit."
Kim has also been criticized for raising conspiracy theories through a publicly funded broadcast. He claimed there was a hidden agenda behind the press conference criticizing the Justice and Memory Foundation (Jeonguiyeon) by comfort women victim grandmother Lee Yong-soo, and condemned the guilty verdict against Jung Kyung-shim, a professor at Dongyang University and wife of former Minister of Justice Cho Kuk, saying "politics was done through the ruling." Regarding the court decision that nullified the disciplinary action against former Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-yeol, he pointed out that "a single judge guaranteed the prosecutor general's term."
As a result, the petition titled "Please remove Kim Eo-jun, the biased political broadcaster, from Traffic Broadcasting" has gained strong public criticism with 290,000 people agreeing.
According to materials submitted by the Board of Audit and Inspection to Park Dae-chul, a member of the National Assembly's Science, Technology, Broadcasting and Communications Committee from the People Power Party, on the 19th, the BAI responded that "TBS is subject to accounting audits and duty inspections under the provisions of the Board of Audit and Inspection Act."
Earlier, Rep. Park inquired with the BAI about whether it was possible to audit if the annual budget of about 40 billion won provided by Seoul City to TBS, including appearance fees and expenditure, was properly executed.
Recently, the People Power Party raised suspicions that Kim received about 2 million won per episode, totaling about 2.3 billion won over five years. Additionally, Rep. Yoon Han-hong of the People Power Party revealed that TBS paid Kim's appearance fees based solely on a verbal contract. In response, TBS explained that verbal contracts for appearance fees are a "long-standing practice in the broadcasting industry."
According to the "Production Cost Payment Regulations" disclosed by TBS, TBS can pay production costs to external production personnel within the upper limit. Furthermore, if special consideration is needed for the participant's recognition, fame, expertise, or career, payments exceeding the upper limit are possible according to the CEO's policy.
However, the opposition party continues to strongly criticize the payment of high appearance fees to Kim without clear standards. The criticism is that a publicly funded broadcaster is only airing programs that benefit a specific political party.
People Power Party spokesperson Bae Jun-young said in a verbal comment, "Seoul City provides 73% of TBS's total budget, and a significant portion of the rest is covered by government advertisements," adding, "However, TBS and Kim argue that 'News Factory' generates a lot of revenue and is not much related to Seoul citizens' taxes. In that case, Seoul City should stop its financial support to TBS."
Rep. Heo Eun-ah of the same party criticized, "If Kim's appearance fee is 2 million won per episode as reported, that amounts to 40 million won per month and 480 million won annually. Kim earns in less than a month what young people who struggled to find jobs earn in a whole year," adding, "At this point, Kim can be considered the biggest beneficiary of the 'left-wing coin'."
As the controversy over Kim's high appearance fees continues, a Blue House petition calling for his complete removal had 296,008 supporters as of 7 a.m. on the 20th.
The petitioner pointed out, "Traffic Broadcasting exists to monitor Seoul's traffic flow in real time to prevent chaos," adding, "However, Kim Eo-jun openly supports only a specific political party and openly disparages opposing parties or politicians, deeply involving himself in elections and politics."
They also said, "When public opinion surged to replace Kim due to the anger of the people, Kim responded by calling it discrimination," and questioned, "Is it discrimination to try to correct a traffic broadcast that has long become a political broadcast supporting a specific party?" They concluded, "Kim Eo-jun, the political broadcaster of Seoul City, please step down from your position at Traffic Broadcasting!!!"
He has also been criticized for conspiracy theories aired on his program. Since September 2016, Kim, who has hosted TBS's "News Factory," claimed on the show that there was a "hidden agenda" behind the press conference criticizing the Justice and Memory Foundation by comfort women victim grandmother Lee Yong-soo.
Regarding the guilty verdict against Jung Kyung-shim, a professor at Dongyang University and wife of former Minister of Justice Cho Kuk, he pointed out that "the judiciary wore robes and did politics through the ruling." He also claimed that "a single judge of the Administrative Court guaranteed the prosecutor general's term" in the decision that nullified the disciplinary action against former Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-yeol.
This program has received six legal sanctions from the Korea Communications Standards Commission since 2018. It recorded the highest number of sanctions for a single program, all due to "violation of objectivity."
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