The lawsuit against the harassment of the late Oyo Anna resumed today (16th)..1 additional non-attendance [Star Issue]

*This content was translated by AI.

An additional person announced his absence ahead of a witness questioning in a damage suit filed against a weatherman identified as the perpetrator by the bereaved family of the late MBC weatherman Oyoanna, who has drawn attention as a bullying issue in the workplace since his sudden death.

The Seoul Central District Court's Civil Agreement Department 48 (Chief Judge Kim Do-kyun) will hold the fifth hearing on the 16th of a lawsuit for damages related to bullying in the workplace of the late Oyoanna. In this regard, it was confirmed that one weatherman who was scheduled to attend the witness examination submitted a non-presentation report on the 15th. Earlier, the weather team PD, which the defendant applied for, also announced his non-presentation in March.

The bereaved family of Oyoanna came back in October 2025A total of three witnesses were submitted, including two weather forecasters, who were identified as abusers of Anna's workplace harassment. A lawyer for the bereaved family told Star News, "We have filed a witness application with the court, and it is our wish that all three of us will be on the witness stand."

Since then, the 48th Division of Civil Agreement (Chief Judge Kim Do-kyun) of the Seoul Central District Court heard the opinions of both sides regarding the adoption of witnesses at the fourth hearing of a lawsuit for damages related to bullying in the workplace of the late Oyoanna in January. The bereaved family maintained the position that a newspaper on the three people who applied was necessary. On the other hand, A requested the weather team PD, who worked with the deceased at the time, as a witness and said, "There were many business exchanges with the deceased, and I applied for a witness because I remember the working attitude and the relationship between the defendant and the deceased."

The court said, "If the two sides do not have much objection, they will adopt three plaintiff witnesses and one defendant witness. Since the burden of proof is on the plaintiff and the plaintiff is unable to contact the witnesses, we will also adopt the defendant's witnesses instead of accepting all (witnesses)."

The late Oyo Anna died in September 2024 at the age of 28. The obituary was made public in December 2024, three months after the death of the deceased. Since then, suspicions have emerged that the deceased was bullied at work by colleagues during his lifetime.

As a result, MBC decided to form a fact-finding committee four months after Oyoanna's death and "to form a fact-finding committee headed by external experts," adding, "We conducted our own investigation internally and plan to support the truth as much as possible so that it can be quickly identified." We will make every effort to heal the pain of the bereaved families by revealing the exact facts," he said.

The Ministry of Employment and Labor also formed a special labor supervision team with the Seoul Regional Employment and Labor Office and the Seoul Western District Office in February 2025 to supervise MBC's special labor, and concluded that "weathercasters are not workers," but that "there was an act that could be seen as bullying." It was about eight months after the death of the late Oyoanna that the Ministry of Employment and Labor admitted bullying in the workplace.

MBC expressed its condolences to Oyo Anna and her bereaved family, saying in an official position, "We take the results of the Ministry of Employment and Labor's special labor supervision very seriously." "We will do our best to prepare measures to prevent recurrence, improve organizational culture, and comply with labor-related laws as the top priorities of management," he said. "We will take seriously the Ministry of Employment and Labor's judgment that there was a bullying act against the late Oyoanna and carry out efforts to improve the organizational culture without delay. We will take appropriate measures against those involved," he said. "Based on the 'improvement plan for overall organizational culture' submitted to the Ministry of Labor earlier, we are already taking improvement measures," he said. "With this announcement, we will repeatedly check and supplement any inadequacies."

MBC said, "We will further supplement and strengthen the system that can improve problems that may arise between freelancers and non-regular workers as soon as possible. We will expand and strengthen the current clean center so that harassment or difficulties can be reported and improved immediately. Regardless of the type of employment, if colleagues recognize this, we will improve it so that anonymity can be secured and reported, he said. "We will take appropriate measures as soon as possible after legal review on the judgment of the worker's nature of some freelancers," he said. "I apologize again to the bereaved families for the unfortunate incident of the late Oyoanna."

Since then, MBC has immediately decided to terminate the contract with A, and it is reported that it has renewed the contract for the other three people who have been identified as perpetrators.

Meanwhile, MBC held a press conference and agreement signing ceremony at 10 a.m. on October 15, 2025 at the Golden Mouse Hall on the first floor of MBC's new building in Sangam-dong, Mapo-gu, Seoul, with President Ahn Hyung-joon and the late Oyoanna's bereaved family. Through a press conference, MBC presented an honorary employee card along with an official apology for the deceased and promised measures to prevent a recurrence. On this day, MBC President Ahn Hyung-joon and the late Oyoanna mother Jang Yeon-mi presented honorary employee cards along with the signing of the agreement. Jang hugged President Ahn Hyung-joon and shed tears.

However, through a subsequent press conference, an MBC official said, "Even before the agreement, we thought about improving the system, and legally tried to focus on workplace harassment only for workers, and we are working at the company level for those including freelancers. When asked about those who were identified as perpetrators, he replied, "We will help freelancers work safely," adding, "The term perpetrators is inappropriate and we will not answer because we are in litigation."

<© STARNEWS. All rights reserved. No reproduction or redistribution allowed.>

*This content was translated by AI.