[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Choyoung] It has been confirmed that over 500 citizens have filed a resident audit request, asking for an investigation into the excessive appearance fees paid by the Seoul Metropolitan Government-affiliated broadcaster Traffic Broadcasting System (TBS) and its political bias.
According to the Ministry of the Interior and Safety on the 25th, 512 citizens including Mr. Kim OO submitted an audit request for TBS to the ministry last month.
They stated in the request, "Since TBS wastes taxpayers' money by setting excessive appearance fees for certain broadcast personalities, we hope an audit will be conducted regarding the use of tax funds."
They added, "We also request an audit to verify whether TBS is fulfilling its duty as a traffic broadcasting company by focusing on the purpose of traffic broadcasting, rather than inducing listeners to adopt specific political views."
A resident audit request is a system where residents collectively petition a higher authority to audit when they recognize that the administrative actions of local governments are illegal or detrimental to public interest. In the case of Seoul, 200 signatures from Seoul citizens aged 19 or older are required to file such a request.
Once a resident audit request is submitted along with the list of petitioners, the relevant department or local government evaluates the formal and substantive appropriateness of the request to decide whether to initiate an audit.
On the 25th, the Ministry of the Interior and Safety plans to hold a written audit request review meeting to first verify whether the formal requirement of 200 Seoul citizen signatures has been properly met.
Recently, in the political sphere, controversy arose over the high appearance fee of nearly 2 million won per episode paid to Kim Eo-jun, the host of TBS's flagship program "Kim Eo-jun's News Factory."
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