"Even If You Say Anything, Annual Salary of 100 Million Won" Employee Post Goes Viral... KBS Hurriedly Apologizes

Seoul Yeouido KBS Headquarters Photo by Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Young-eun] A KBS employee posted a message on an online community exclusively for office workers saying, "Instead of complaining outside, if you have the ability and opportunity, join (KBS)," which sparked public outrage. In response, KBS issued an apology, stating it is "deeply regretful and sorry."

On the 31st of last month, a post titled "There are many complaints about our company" was uploaded on 'Blind,' an anonymous online community for office workers.

Photo by Screenshot of a post from the anonymous worker community 'Blind'

The author, presumed to be a KBS employee, wrote, "No matter how much you complain, our company guarantees retirement. The license fee is included in the electricity bill, so you have to pay it regularly," adding, "The average annual salary is 100 million KRW, and since there are no performance bonuses, half of the employees earn over 100 million KRW annually." Blind is a community where affiliation can be verified through company email addresses, and the author was identified as a KBS employee.

The author further added, "Please stop criticizing our employees outside, and if you have the ability and opportunity, please become one of our colleagues." This post, related to the recent increase in KBS's license fee, sparked public outrage on social media platforms and caused controversy.

Community members and netizens responded with comments such as "I hate paying more license fees. Let's abolish the license fee," "It's outrageous and infuriating," and "Getting fat off the license fee increase and mocking us too?"

Photo by KBS Homepage Post Capture

In response, on the 1st, KBS released a statement titled "KBS Position on the Controversy Regarding the Online Community Post by an Employee," apologizing by saying, "We deeply regret and are sorry for the post containing content that cannot be considered common sense for KBS members, which caused discomfort to readers, regardless of the reason."

KBS added, "We will take this controversy as an opportunity for each employee, as members of a public broadcaster owned by the people, to reflect on themselves and adjust their mindset," and promised, "We will do our best to streamline the organization and improve management efficiency through wage system improvements and job redesign."

Earlier, on the 27th of last month, KBS submitted a proposal to the KBS board to raise the license fee from 2,500 KRW to 3,840 KRW per month.

KBS's license fee revenue was 670.5 billion KRW (as of 2019), accounting for about 46% of KBS's total budget. If the license fee is raised to 3,840 KRW, revenue will increase to 1.0411 trillion KRW, making up 53.4% of the total funding. The decision on this license fee increase will be finalized after procedures including public hearings, opinion polls, KBS board review, submission of opinions to the Korea Communications Commission, and submission and approval by the National Assembly.

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