MBC Finally Retests Amid Controversy Over Secondary Harm to Park Won-soon Victims

MBC logo. Photo by MBC

[Asia Economy Reporter Kang Joo-hee] MBC decided to hold a retest after controversy arose over a question in the reporter written exam that discussed the designation of the victim who accused former Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon of sexual harassment.

On the 14th, MBC issued a statement titled "Apology Regarding the Essay Exam Question," stating, "We failed to carefully consider the concerns about secondary harm to the victim that could arise from this question."

It continued, "We will create a new essay question and conduct a retest only for the reporters and video journalists who took the original essay exam. We deeply apologize to the victim of this case and the examinees who took the essay exam." The retest candidates are about 300 people who took the public recruitment exam on the 13th, and the specific exam schedule is undecided.

Earlier, MBC caused controversy by posing a question in the new reporter recruitment essay exam: "Should the party who raised the sexual harassment issue against former Seoul Mayor Park be referred to as the victim or the complainant? (If there is a third designation, it is acceptable to present it with logical grounds)." This sparked debate over "secondary harm to the victim." Criticism also arose that this was a form of "ideological screening" of examinees.

The term "complainant" was used by the Democratic Party and other political circles to refer to the victim after Mayor Park's death, which also sparked controversy over "secondary harm" at the time. Later, the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family announced the opinion that "the accuser is legally considered the victim," and the Democratic Party unified the designation of the accuser as 'victim.'

As the controversy spread, MBC explained on the 14th, "The purpose of the question was to assess interest in current affairs and the ability to understand the context before and after the incident; the choice of designation was not an evaluation criterion at all." However, as criticism arose within MBC, it appears they decided to hold a retest.

The MBC Labor Union issued a statement titled "MBC's Essay Question That Could Not Call the Sexual Harassment Victim as Such," demanding, "We ask President Park Sung-je to clarify who and for what purpose created such a question," and criticized, "Given MBC's reporting behavior so far, there is serious concern about what kind of respondents they intend to select."

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