KBS was alleged to have coerced the victims of Jung Joon Young.
Korea’s state-owned broadcast company KBS is threatening to sue BBC over the British network’s Burning Sun documentary.
On May 21, KBS released a statement in which they denounced a segment in the documentary in which a Korean journalist alleged KBS’s lawyers coerced and pressured victims of Jung Joon Young.
The journalist who appeared in BBC News Korea’s documentary Burning Sun claimed that KBS lawyers contacted and pressured the victims of Jung Joon Young. These claims are not true and are unfounded.
— KBS’s lawyers
KBS then clarified that the lawyer who advised the victims about possible legal consequences were the victim’s lawyers and not the broadcast company’s representatives.
When the victims state that they were afraid after a lawyer had advised if their evidence was insufficient that they might be facing legal consequences, after the BBC narrates that KBS’s lawyers had contacted the victims, we would like to make it clear that the lawyers were the victim’s representatives.
— KBS’s lawyers
KBS’s lawyers then stated that they will officially ask that the BBC rectify their mistake through an official press release.
We express deep regrets towards BBC, and are planning to ask that they rectify their mistakes in a press release. In the case that they do not, we are looking over legal options.
— KBS’s lawyers
Previously, KBS was the target of major backlash after the documentary alleged that broadcasting giants had pressured victims of the Burning Sun scandal to drop charges against Jung Joon Young. You can read more about it in the link below.