The Korea Communications Standards Commission has refuted the production company‘s claim that it had prior review of MBN’s new entertainment program ‘Under Fifteen’.

On the 25th, the Korea Communications Standards Commission (KCSC) released an explanatory statement, stating, “In accordance with Article 21 of the ‘Act on the Establishment and Operation of the Korea Communications Commission’ and Article 32 of the ‘Broadcasting Act’, the KCSC conducts ‘post-review’ of programs that have already been broadcast to determine whether they have violated the deliberation regulations.”The claim that we did not receive the complete program prior to broadcast and that we reviewed it and conveyed our opinion on whether the deliberation regulations were violated is not true. We strongly protest to Crea Studio for making false claims in public.”

Earlier on the same day, an emergency production briefing for MBN’s new entertainment program “Under Fifteen” was held at the Grand Ballroom on the 2nd floor of the Stanford Hotel Korea in Sangam, Mapo-gu, Seoul. Crea Studio CEO Hwang In-young, CEO Seo Hye-jin, and PD Yong Seok-in attended the event.

In particular, CEO Seo Hye-jin said, “We submitted the completed version of the broadcast to the Korea Communications Commission and the Korea Communications Standards Commission two weeks ago, and an internal review was conducted that there were no problems.” But even at an official event, they lied.


On this day, CEO Hwang In-young and CEO Seo Hye-jin gave a tearful explanation regarding the controversy over the child sexual objectification of ‘Under Fifteen’.

CEO In-young said, “I am sorry and regretful for causing concern. When producing a show, you can get caught up in unexpected controversies, and sometimes it can become an opportunity to develop in unexpected ways. However, the unexpected aspects are being expanded as if they were true,” and said, “The staff who risked their pride to help have suffered a great blow to their honor. I thought about ‘how can we end this situation?’ and decided to hold this unusual event. If possible, we would like to urgently clarify any differences in our thoughts here,” he said, explaining the reason for holding an emergency production briefing.

CEO Hwang In-young said, “I learned that those who create broadcasts are evaluated by their content rather than their words, and that they should be recognized by the public for that. This made me want to protect everyone who works with us.”


CEO Seo Hye-jin said about the controversy over the barcodes in the participants’ profile photos, “I want to say that the barcode controversy is a huge misunderstanding. It was produced with the concept of a student ID card. We were also very surprised that they were using this to refer to sexual meanings,” and “I was very surprised that they were using the concept of a student ID card to talk about the prostitution of a 9-year-old girl and something sexual. Also, the production team was female. 90% of the production team on site are women. We should not think that female workers have low sexual awareness. I hope you realize that it is a woman who is producing this on site.”

CEO Seo Hye-jin said, “I bow my head and beg you. Our intention is not to sexually objectify children,” and added, “We are not trying to force the broadcast, but are trying to adjust the broadcast date by taking into account various opinions. We are not trying to go with ‘strong versus strong.’ We created this opportunity to explain that that is absolutely not our intention.” She repeatedly begged people to put aside distorted views. CEO Hwang In-young even shed tears during the Q&A session. CEO Seo Hye-jin also shed tears.


However, the sudden emergency production briefing showed a difference between what was said at the official event and the actual situation. The programming is also unknown. It was originally scheduled to premiere at 9:10 p.m. on the 31st, but MBN announced that it would reexamine the program. On the 21st, MBN said, “We are taking the concerns of all walks of life in our society regarding ‘Under Fifteen’ seriously. Regarding this, MBN will comprehensively review the details of the program as well as whether or not to air it, and will announce our position soon.”

Regarding this, CEO Seo Hye-jin said, “We have done various programs with MBN, but we do not receive production fees from MBN. MBN is just a platform. We do not have differences of opinion with MBN. MBN felt a responsibility as a platform, so we used the expression ‘review.’ If you really want to protest, come to Crea Studio and do it. MBN has nothing to do with this issue.”

Hong Se-young, Donga.com Reporter projecthong@donga.com

This article is automatically translated using Google AI. If you notice any inaccuracies, please let us know at allkstar@donga.com.