The broadcasting industry has joined the mourning procession by abruptly canceling award ceremonies, considered the biggest events of the year, following the unexpected Muan International Airport plane disaster.

MBC urgently announced the cancellation of the ‘Broadcast Entertainment Awards’, which was scheduled to be broadcast live at 8:30 PM that day, at 2 PM, 6 hours before the broadcast. The production team, who heard the sad news during rehearsal, started by canceling the red carpet event, which was a side event of the awards ceremony, and after discussion, made the final decision not to broadcast the awards ceremony.

The broadcasting company considered recording the awards ceremony that day and rescheduling the broadcast date for a later date, but it has been reported that they ultimately canceled the recording as the situation worsened. It has not yet been decided whether the awards ceremony will be reheld in the future.

The MBC ‘Drama Awards’, which is scheduled to air on the 30th, the KBS ‘Drama Awards’, MBC ‘Gayo Daejejeon’, and SBS ‘Entertainment Awards’ are also said to be discussing whether or not to hold them until the afternoon of the same day. Red carpet events and other side events have been canceled or put on hold for the time being, and it seems that it will take more time until the final decision is made on whether to proceed.

Meanwhile, terrestrial broadcasters KBS, MBC, and SBS canceled all existing entertainment programs that were scheduled for that day, saying that it was a “decision that took into consideration national sentiment and social atmosphere.”.

Accordingly, ‘Mysterious TV Surprise’, ‘King of Mask Singer’, ‘Running Man’, ‘National Singing Contest’, ‘2 Days & 1 Night’, etc. have been replaced with news specials and documentaries related to the passenger plane disaster.


Reporter Yoo Ji-hye yjh0304@donga.com