MBC Ends All Weathercaster Contracts...Hires Weather Specialists

Abolition of the Freelance Weathercaster System
Contracts Ended for Geum Chaerim, Lee Hyunseung, Kim Gayoung, and Choi Ari

All of MBC's freelance weathercasters have ended their contracts with the broadcaster.

According to MBC on the 9th, the company has terminated its contracts with weathercasters Lee Hyunseung, Kim Gayoung, Choi Ari, and Geum Chaerim. MBC stated, "The existing weathercasters delivered their final broadcast yesterday," adding, "The newly hired staff member will begin appearing on air soon after completing practical training and other preparations."

The late O Yoanna, MBC weathercaster.

Earlier, in September last year, on the first anniversary of the death of the late Oh Yoanna, MBC announced that it would abolish the freelance weathercaster system and instead hire "weather and climate specialists" as full-time employees. As a result, all those who had been working as freelancers, including Lee Hyunseung, Kim Gayoung, Choi Ari, and Geum Chaerim, have left MBC.

On the 8th, former MBC weathercaster Geum Chaerim wrote on her social networking service (SNS), "Last Friday, I delivered the weather for the last time as a weathercaster. During the approximately five years I spent at MBC, I always shared the weather in front of the camera with joy and excitement. I have no regrets because I did my very best in every broadcast that was given to me, from special reports and live coverage during disaster situations to early-morning programs."

She continued, "However, to be honest, I am left with a sense of regret and heaviness at the fact that the work and profession I loved are disappearing," and added, "Even so, I will return in a new role so that this conclusion can be not an end but a new beginning. I am truly grateful to the senior colleagues and directors who stayed by my side until the final broadcast." Geum Chaerim joined MBC in the same intake as Oh Yoanna.

Oh Yoanna passed away in September 2024, but news of her death was not made public until three months later. A note was found on her mobile phone stating that she had been bullied in the workplace by colleagues. MBC only set up a fact-finding committee four months after her death. In May last year, the Ministry of Employment and Labor announced the results of a special labor inspection conducted by the Seoul Regional Employment and Labor Office and the Seoul Western District Office of Employment and Labor into MBC. The ministry acknowledged that the deceased had been subjected to bullying within the organization, but explained that, because she was not recognized as a worker under the Labor Standards Act, the regulations on workplace harassment did not apply.

Afterward, the deceased's mother, Jang Yeonmi, went on a 27-day hunger strike in front of MBC's headquarters. At a related press conference, Jang demanded that weathercasters be made full-time employees and argued that the existing staff should not lose their jobs. Nevertheless, MBC went on to terminate the contracts of all existing weathercasters and instead hire full-time weather and climate specialists.