Court orders MBC to correct report on Yoon's hot mic moment

Public broadcaster MBC's footage of President Yoon Suk Yeol's hot mic moment in New York in September 2022, featuring a subtitle that referred to the U.S. Congress with an expletive. [SCREEN CAPTURE]

A court on Friday ordered public broadcaster MBC to correct its report on President Yoon Suk Yeol's hot mic moment during his visit to the United States in 2022.

The Seoul Western District Court ruled in favor of the Foreign Ministry that demanded MBC to correct a news clip of Yoon's remark that came with a profanity-laced subtitle.

The content of Yoon's remark is still debated, as his exact words were indiscernible due to the loud background noise.

The court ruled that MBC must have the host of its prime-time news show read the correction statement regarding the hot mic moment, once at normal speed, with the title and text displayed on screen, as soon as the court's correction order is finalized.

The court also ordered MBC to pay the Foreign Ministry 1 million won ($760) a day if it does not comply with the order after the due date expires.

The controversy arose during Yoon's visit to the United States in September 2022.

While leaving the Global Fund's Seventh Replenishment Conference in New York, Yoon was captured in a video making a remark that seemed to be about the U.S. Congress.

MBC reported that Yoon said, "If those [expletive] do not pass it in the [parliament], [Biden] will lose face."

However, the presidential office said that Yoon was referring to neither U.S. President Joe Biden nor the U.S. Congress, but rather Korea's National Assembly.

The presidential office said then that the actual word used was nallimeun, the Korean word for "throw out," rather than "Biden," accusing MBC of spreading misinformation.

The Foreign Ministry filed a lawsuit against the broadcaster in December 2022 after failing to reach an agreement at the Press Arbitration Commission.

MBC refused to correct its reports, maintaining that they were not false.

During the trial, the court requested MBC and the Foreign Ministry to seek expert evaluations for clarification of the controversial remarks. However, experts said the words Yoon used were inaudible.

The presidential office on Friday accused MBC of being irresponsible in spreading misinformation.

"The broadcast, claiming to be a public service, has manipulated a subtitle without a scientific or objective confirmation process," said Lee Do-woon, the president's press secretary. "It is seriously irresponsible to broadcast a false report that has a severe impact on national interest."

Lee said that the court's ruling earlier in the day would not only correct the reporting, which had been far from the truth, but also put an end to the "exhausting" political strife over the remark.

"It will serve as an opportunity to restore the public's trust in our diplomacy and government," Lee said.

The liberal Democratic Party (DP) in turn said on Saturday that it couldn’t “comprehend at all” the Seoul district court’s ruling to issue a correction to Yoon’s hot mic moment.

“The court acknowledged that [the remarks] could not be determined, but requested MBC to correct its report,” Kang Sun-woo, a DP spokesperson, said in a press briefing at the National Assembly briefing, questioning how MBC apparently “did nothing wrong” but was ordered to write an apology statement.
“Was it a mistake to report President Yoon’s harsh remarks?” she asked.

Kang also criticized the presidential office for blaming the DP for allegedly “taking advantage of the false report,” and claimed it was Yoon who nearly damaged relations between Korea and the United States, not her party.

BY CHO JUNG-WOO, LEE HO-JEONG [cho.jungwoo1@joongang.co.kr]