Mayor Park Hyung-jun's 'Over 1 Trillion Won Startup Fund' Pledge Reported by JTBC Newsroom as 'Huge Citizen Tax Burden'
[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kim Yong-woo] On the 13th, Busan City announced that it received a mediation decision from the Korea Press Arbitration Commission, including the right to rebuttal, regarding the JTBC Newsroom report on the ‘Park Hyung-jun 1 trillion won startup fund pledge MOU with Yozma Group’.
On July 6, JTBC reported on the Newsroom program that ‘Busan City is creating a startup fund worth 1.2 trillion won with Israel’s Yozma Group, involving a huge amount of citizens’ taxes.’
In response, Busan City strongly refuted the report as groundless.
The 1.2 trillion won startup fund is a fund established together with various global companies including Yozma Group, and the business agreement signed with Yozma Group specified comprehensive cooperation matters such as fostering and attracting startup companies in the Busan area to revitalize the regional economy, with no financial support or obligations from Busan City, the city argued.
Busan City applied for mediation with the Korea Press Arbitration Commission, judging that JTBC’s expression of ‘a huge amount of taxes being involved’ could cause misunderstanding.
According to the Korea Press Arbitration Commission’s decision on the right to rebuttal, JTBC must display a rebuttal statement titled ‘Rebuttal Report on Park Hyung-jun 1 Trillion Won Startup Fund Pledge MOU with Yozma Group’ at the end of the Newsroom broadcast.
JTBC must comply with the mediation decision by 6 p.m. on August 16, including displaying the statement in subtitle size below the usual news text, providing the video with the statement in the replay service, and ensuring the statement remains searchable on the JTBC website.
On August 9, JTBC Newsroom also issued a rebuttal report regarding Yozma Group, stating that ‘Yozma Group is currently operating normally in Ramat Gan, Israel’s Silicon Valley, and the address and phone number of Yozma Group reported by Newsroom were outdated.’
Park Hyung-jun, Mayor of Busan, said, “Despite the erroneous report, we will steadily promote the pledge to establish a 1.2 trillion won startup fund for fostering technology innovation and startup and venture companies, and make Busan a business-friendly city.”
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