Public Broadcaster Only Airs Apple Twice a Day
"Trying to Capture the Scene Holding the Taegeukgi"
Before Criticism of Kimono and Kimigayo Subsides
KBS apologized after broadcasting the opera "Madama Butterfly," which included a scene where the Japanese national anthem "Kimigayo" was sung on Liberation Day, and then apologized again on the same day for using a Taegukgi graphic with reversed left-right orientation in the news.
On the 15th, KBS aired a graphic image representing Liberation Day during the weather forecast segment on KBS 1TV's "930 News" in the morning.
Among these, the Taegukgi held by the figure in the graphic image was reversed left to right, with Gam (坎) occupying the upper left corner where Geon (乾) should have been among the four trigrams (Sogwa, 四卦).
KBS explained, "This was the result of the producer flipping the Taegukgi image using computer graphics software to match the scene where the figure was holding the flag." They added, "As soon as the issue was identified, the Taegukgi image was corrected. The revised video is also being provided again on the news homepage. We sincerely apologize for this mistake and will pay close attention to even the smallest details to prevent such problems from recurring."
Earlier, KBS broadcast the opera "Madama Butterfly" as the first program on Liberation Day in "KBS Joonggyeseok." It was a recorded performance of "Madama Butterfly" held at the Seoul Arts Center on June 29.
Composed by Italian composer Giacomo Puccini, "Madama Butterfly" tells the story of the love between an American officer and a Japanese woman. In the wedding scene of the two main characters, the Japanese national anthem "Kimigayo" is played, and the female lead wears a traditional Japanese kimono.
Criticism grew over the appearance of the kimono and "Kimigayo" on public broadcasting on Liberation Day, and one viewer posted a critical message on the KBS viewer petition board, gaining the agreement of over 10,000 people by 1 p.m.
KBS apologized, stating, "The broadcast was originally scheduled for the end of July but was pushed back to early morning on Liberation Day due to Olympic coverage. Considering the changed schedule, it was a failure of the production team not to review whether the content was problematic or timely."
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
