'Hulk' to 'Tank'? KBS also in controversy... "Producer's negligence" apologizes → video made private [Star Issue]

*This content was translated by AI.

KBS's official digital channel 'KBS Entertainment: KkalKkal TV' faced widespread criticism from netizens for its insensitive subtitle display and has issued a formal apology.

On the 27th, the operators of the YouTube channel 'KBS Entertain: KkalKkal TV' posted on their bulletin board, "We sincerely apologize for the subtitle error that occurred in the video uploaded on the 26th, which caused great concern to our viewers."

The operators explained, "In the video, a subtitle that should have read 'Hulk' based on context was incorrectly uploaded as 'Tank' due to the producer's negligence and insufficient review by the manager. The production and review teams failed to detect this beforehand. Upon recognizing the issue, the production team immediately made the video private."

They continued, "The production team is now seriously aware of the severity of this matter and is conducting a comprehensive re-examination of the review process for all content. Furthermore, to prevent recurrence, we will further strengthen our management systems. As a digital channel of a public broadcaster, we will take greater responsibility and carefully check even a single subtitle and each character. We sincerely apologize once again to all viewers who felt inconvenience and hurt due to this incident."

On the 'KBS Entertain: KkalKkal TV' channel, a video titled "Sim Hyung-rae almost went to the hospital after imitating a 'Tank' in front of the leader lol" was uploaded on the 26th. Additionally, the thumbnail of the video featured the text "Sim Hyung-rae style 'Tank' imitation lol."

The video featured Sim Hyung-rae appearing on the tray karaoke corner of the KBS2 variety program 'Happy Together Season 1,' which aired in October 2002. Sim Hyung-rae shared an anecdote from his military days, saying, "I was good at imitating the 'Hulk' with two faces," while making a distorted facial expression.

Although the video did not mention 'Tank,' the producer's use of the term 'Tank' instead of 'Hulk' raised questions. This comes particularly as Starbucks Korea recently sparked controversy by using the term 'Tank Day' on the anniversary of the May 18th Democratic Uprising, and KBS has now drawn public backlash by creating a similar controversy.

The channel operators replaced the title and thumbnail from 'Tank imitation' to 'Hulk imitation,' but as criticism intensified, the video was ultimately made private.

In response, netizens left critical comments on the channel, such as, "T and H are far apart on the keyboard layout, so the chance of a typo is low... E and AE are also far apart...", "There was a huge uproar because of 'Tank,' so it's unlikely they didn't know," "How could they mistakenly write 'Hulk' as 'Tank'? It's really puzzling," and "Fire the editor... it can't be a simple mistake."

KBS previously faced issues in March 2019 when it used a modified image from Ilbe in the 1TV program 'TV Carrying Love,' to which it apologized, stating, "There was no intent." KBS explained that while it established an image production and sharing system in June 2018, the incident occurred because an employee of a cooperating company failed to utilize it.

Hello, this is the 'KkalKkal TV' operator.

First, we sincerely apologize for the subtitle error that occurred in the video uploaded on May 26 (Tuesday), which caused great concern to our viewers.

In the video, a subtitle that should have read 'Hulk' based on context was incorrectly uploaded as 'Tank' due to the producer's negligence and insufficient review by the manager. The production and review teams failed to detect this beforehand. Upon recognizing the issue, the production team immediately made the video private.

The production team is now seriously aware of the severity of this matter and is conducting a comprehensive re-examination of the review process for all content. Furthermore, to prevent recurrence, we will further strengthen our management systems.

As a digital channel of a public broadcaster, we will take greater responsibility and carefully check even a single subtitle and each character. We sincerely apologize once again to all viewers who felt inconvenience and hurt due to this incident.

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*This content was translated by AI.