The production company punished the victim.
On September 10, KST, the Hanbit Media Workers’ Rights Center AND National Union of Media Workerss Branch of radio and television authors (Broadcast Writers Union) revealed that while filming a variety show in Busan in recent months, a senior staff member strangled the neck of a radio writer.
According to the two organizations’ reports, the incident occurred during the filming of an art variety show in Busan on June 30. A director-level staff member first yelled at the main writer and strangled another writer’s neck when they tried to intervene.
The crew and general public who attended the filming witnessed the incident that day. However, when the show’s six writers called for action against the staff member, the production company responded by terminating the writers’ contracts instead. They fired the entire writing team on July 9 and hired replacements.
The company also refused to pay the authors’ salaries. Currently, the production management has founded a new company, “Q”, and continues to produce the variety show in question.
The Hanbit Center criticized the incident, saying it was not an isolated case, but rather part of a worrying growing trend in the industry.
Working conditions in the variety industry are a complete disaster. Just look at the cases reported to Hanbit Media Labor Rights Center this year, there are 80 employees of broadcasters from 9 different locations who are owed 600 million won in unpaid wages. It is even more common that contracts are not written. It is a reality that labor laws are not adequately protected, just because there is no labor contract or because of irregular commuting hours.
— Hanbit Media Workers’ Rights Center
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