[Editorial] A charlatan whose time has come and gone

Provocative podcaster Kim Eo-jun said Monday he will quit his popular news show on TBS Radio. Though the announcement was long overdue, we welcome it as it will help put Korea’s lopsided public broadcasting back on track. There were widespread rumors that Kim would have to step down after TBS decided to cut its budget, including for the outspoken leftist pundit. It was found that Kim had applied for legal protection for his podcast entitled “Kim Eo-jun’s News Factory” in October.

Since airing the first episode of the show in September 2016, the podcast has received eight court-issued restrictions and 34 administrative cautions from the Korea Communications Standards Commission. Those punishments account for two thirds of all penalties the public broadcaster has received in its history. Most of the trouble stemmed from Kim’s biases or his ridicule of others. During the presidential election last May, the National Election Commission found fault with 33 of his podcast episodes.

Kim’s misinformation campaigns went beyond the limits. In the Seoul mayoral by-election last year, he raised unreasonable suspicions about conservative candidate Oh Se-hoon, current Seoul mayor, solely based on remarks by an anonymous informant. Before the May 9 presidential election, he was enthusiastically spreading truly fake news, including about first lady Kim Keon-hee, followed by his recent broadcasting of wild rumors that a fortune teller was involved in the relocation of the Blue House and that President Yoon Suk-yeol and Justice Minister Han Dong-hoon went on a drinking binge with 30 lawyers from a powerful law firm at a bar in Gangnam.

Kim skillfully weaves fragments of facts with lies, creating a convincing narrative. Truth does not matter to him. If a story proves wrong, the public has lost interest and moved on. Kim earned a lot of money through his weird business of selling conspiracy theories. For instance, he raked in 4 billion won ($3.1 million) by misinforming his audience about the cause of the Sewol ferry sinking.

The amazing success of his business model owed much to the Democratic Party (DP) blindly believing what he said. Leaders of the party faithfully relayed his message to the mainstream media. But the breakaway of voters in their 20s and 30s ―— avid supporters of the Moon Jae-in administration in its early stages ―— from the DP is also connected to Kim’s regressive form of broadcasting based on sensationalism.

His freshness as a critic, albeit in vulgar language, of authoritarianism has vanished after polluting the media with bogus news. Such a dirty business model must not be allowed to prosper. The time has come for people to see through Korea’s Alex Jones.