[Comprehensive] Choi Seung-ho Criticizes Kim Eo-jun for Spreading Conspiracy Theory of Sewol Ferry Deliberate Sinking

Former MBC President Choi Seung-ho Criticizes Conspiracy Theories in Kim Eo-jun's Films 'The Plan' and 'The Sea on That Day'
"If Strong Rebuttals Arise, They Just Ignore Without Responding"
"Wrong Things Should Be Acknowledged and Apologized For"

Broadcaster Kim Eo-jun Photo by Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Reporter Han Seung-gon] Former MBC President Choi Seung-ho publicly criticized broadcaster Kim Eo-jun, saying he "spreads conspiracy theories."

On the 4th, Choi posted on his Facebook, stating, "When Kim Eo-jun encounters an incomprehensible phenomenon regarding a significant issue, instead of investigating it, he imagines and speculates."

He continued, "Sometimes he makes movies, and when strong rebuttals arise, he neither provides responsible answers nor addresses them but simply ignores them," criticizing him.

He pointed out again, "The public is very lenient toward this behavior of his. It seems he has the privilege to freely make dangerous claims that are not based on facts."

However, Choi acknowledged, "Of course, it is true that he played a refreshing role when the media was frozen. The influence Kim Eo-jun holds today fundamentally stems from the behavior the media has shown so far."

He added, "But now, Kim Eo-jun is the most influential journalist in South Korea. Continuing in this manner is problematic. I hope Kim Eo-jun tries to take responsibility commensurate with his status. He should admit when he is wrong and apologize."

Choi Seung-ho, former MBC President [Photo by Yonhap News]

Choi referred to the documentary film 'Ghost Ship,' recently fact-checked by Newstapa, saying, "If it was found that the Sewol ferry AIS data was abnormal, they should have inquired with the person or institution most knowledgeable about that data to understand why." 'Ghost Ship' contains claims that the Automatic Identification System (AIS) data recording the Sewol ferry's route was manipulated.

He continued, "If the 'Ghost Ship' production team had conducted such an investigation, they would likely have soon heard from a company official that 'the AIS data receiver was from a company located in Shenzhen, China, so the company's location data remained as the initial value of the receiver, and it was not that any force in Shenzhen deliberately manipulated the Sewol AIS data.'"

Choi criticized, "If that had been the case, Kim Eo-jun and director Kim Ji-young might not have needed to go all the way to Shenzhen, China, nor spent a lot of money making the film, nor released reckless and dangerous claims about a tragic event that deeply hurt many people."

He added, "The Sewol issue is an extremely serious problem that our society must resolve. However, making such absurd claims that disrupt efforts to uncover the truth and invite ridicule is wrong."

Choi also mentioned the film 'The Plan' (produced by Kim Eo-jun), which previously claimed the 18th presidential election was rigged, and 'The Sea of That Day' (produced by Kim Eo-jun, directed by Kim Ji-young), which claimed someone deliberately lowered the anchor causing the Sewol sinking.

He said, "I think Kim Eo-jun and director Kim Ji-young's approach to facts shown in their films is somewhat problematic," and criticized again, "When an important issue presents an incomprehensible phenomenon, they immediately link it to manipulation or conspiracy by someone. There are many cases where investigators themselves encounter phenomena they cannot understand."

Photo by documentary film poster 'Geunal Bada'

On April 17, 2018, Kim Eo-jun attended the screening report of 'The Sea of That Day' and explained, "The Sea of That Day is a film started with the participation of 12,000 citizens. From the beginning, there was a principle: to deal only with parts that can be scientifically argued with data, to verify that data with survivors' experiences, to present a hypothesis and end the film with it. Lastly, the hypothesis should raise the question of whether we truly understand the cause of the sinking and serve as a starting point."

Another film produced by Kim, 'The Plan,' raised suspicions of vote-rigging in the 2012 presidential election where former candidate Park Geun-hye defeated Moon Jae-in.

In the film, Kim claimed, "The machine misclassifies too many ballots that humans can interpret." The film assumes that the ratio of classified to unclassified ballots should be the same for each candidate and revealed that among unclassified ballots, Park's votes were 1.5 times (K value) more than Moon's across all electoral districts. Kim argued that this phenomenon could not occur without someone manipulating the vote-counting machine.

However, when asked by 'PD Notebook' about how the film was made, Kim said, "I am not interested," but added, "At that time, it was a reasonable suspicion. Now, many conditions have changed."

This is not the first conflict surrounding Kim Eo-jun's conspiracy theories. On May 28, Japanese military comfort woman victim Lee Yong-soo (92) refuted conspiracy theories alleging she was behind a press conference, saying, "This is my own matter to handle," and, "I did everything alone, and I am neither demented nor foolish."

That morning, Lee appeared on CBS Radio's 'Kim Hyun-jung's News Show' and said, "No matter how many times I say it, I did it alone," adding, "The draft of the second press conference statement was written in my shaky handwriting and transcribed by my adopted daughter."

She continued, "If desired, I can disclose that draft. This is my matter, so I have to do it myself; I don't need to ask anyone or have anyone help."

Earlier, on the 26th of the same month, Kim Eo-jun raised a kind of conspiracy theory on 'tbs News Factory,' saying about Lee's second press conference, "It is clear from reading the statement that it was not written by Lee Yong-soo. Someone must be involved in distortion."

Regarding criticism about why a comfort women organization discusses the issue of military sexual slavery, Kim said, "It is an absurd argument to say that a group focusing on the comfort women issue for 30 years only cares about military sexual slavery and used the comfort women issue."

In response, Lee refuted on a radio broadcast, "The Korean Council for the Women Drafted for Military Sexual Slavery (Jeongdae-hyeop) lacked activities only for military sexual slavery grandmothers, so they included comfort women grandmothers and led us for nearly 30 years."

She added, "I thought everything they said was right and just followed along, but it is frustrating that others took the credit and money."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.