U.S. visit committee rejects KBS' request for retrial over Kim Geon-hee's luxury bag 'pouch' expression

Caution is also taken against MBC for airing beer advertisements during restricted hours for alcohol advertisements.

(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Sang-yong Han = The Korea Media and Communications Standards Commission dismissed the application for retrial of KBS, which received legal sanctions for broadcasting the anchor's claim that it was justified to refer to the luxury bag given to First Lady Kim Kun-hee as a 'pouch'.

The US Visit Committee held a meeting at the Broadcasting Center in Mok-dong, Seoul on the 9th and announced that it dismissed the application for retrial of KBS 1TV's 'News 9', which aired on February 8, 2024, with a majority opinion.

Accordingly, the 'caution' legal sanctions approved on June 8 of this year were maintained.

The Visit to the United States Review Committee explained the background by saying, “It is difficult to say that there is a special change in circumstances” that would warrant accepting the request for retrial.

Previously, the U.S. Visit Committee judged that although the core of the issue was the suspicion of receiving luxury bags and whether compensation was given, the anchor used the expression 'pouch' to obscure the issue and highlight one side's position.

The fact that expressions used by some foreign media were assumed to have been used by 'all foreign media' also violated the fairness and objectivity provisions of the broadcasting review regulations.

Separately from this, the US Defense Review Committee also decided to pay attention to the CJ On Style product sales broadcast that introduced the health functional food 'Stomach & Intestinal Mastic Lactobacillus' as being effective in preventing and treating gastrointestinal diseases.

The Food and Drug Administration explained that the functionality of the raw materials contained in the product is at a level that can help improve stomach discomfort or facilitate smooth bowel movements.

Additionally, the U.S. Visit Committee decided to caution MBC TV, which aired a beer advertisement during the alcohol advertising restricted hours of 7 a.m. to 10 p.m.

The U.S. Visit Committee said, "Even in an unexpected situation such as an emergency programming of a special report, the broadcaster should have carefully checked whether or not alcohol advertisements were included before transmitting," and also took into account the fact that MBC was recently sanctioned for violating the same provision.