Changed Appearance Fee Rules for Kim Eo-jun? Daily Appearance Fee Soars to Maximum '2 Million Won'

Photo by tbs Radio, screenshot from the YouTube screen of 'Kim Eo-jun's News Factory'.

[Asia Economy Reporter Seoyoung Kwon] TBS (Traffic Broadcasting) is facing allegations that it revised its production cost payment regulations to increase Kim Eo-jun's appearance fee on 'Kim Eo-jun's News Factory' to 2 million KRW per day.

Today (the 2nd), Heo Eun-ah, a member of the National Assembly's Science, Technology, Broadcasting and Communications Committee from the People Power Party, received the 'Production Cost Payment Regulations' from TBS.

According to these regulations, radio hosts can receive a maximum daily appearance fee of 2 million KRW, combining 1 million KRW for radio hosting and 1 million KRW for broadcast transmission hosting. Additionally, considering the expertise or recognition of content participants, hosting fees exceeding this amount may be paid according to the CEO's policy.

TBS's 2 million KRW daily regulation was revised on April 2 last year. Before the revision, the maximum daily appearance fee was 1.1 million KRW, combining 600,000 KRW for radio hosting and 500,000 KRW for broadcast transmission hosting. In response, Representative Heo requested disclosure of the list of hosts receiving the maximum 2 million KRW per day and cases of payments exceeding the limit under the revised regulations, but TBS replied that providing the information was impossible, citing "inclusion of personal information."

Furthermore, Representative Heo claimed, "It can only be assumed that no one other than Mr. Kim receives 2 million KRW," and criticized, "A young person's monthly salary is being spent daily as taxpayers' money for Mr. Kim. Was the regulation revised before last April's general election to safely increase Mr. Kim's appearance fee?"

Previously, opposition parties alleged that Mr. Kim received 2 million KRW per episode for hosting 'Kim Eo-jun's News Factory' without a contract and that since February 2016, he has received over approximately 2.27 billion KRW to date.

In response, TBS stated that it is difficult to disclose Mr. Kim's appearance fee due to personal information concerns and explained, "'News Factory' is a program that has ranked first in radio listenership for over three years, generating nearly 7 billion KRW in annual revenue."

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