Son Jeong-min's Father: "That Guy, Edited 'Replay' Without Any Notice"

On the 29th of last month, the SBS current affairs program Unanswered Questions covered the accident involving the late Son Jeong-min. Photo by Unanswered Questions broadcast screen capture

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Choyoung] The father of the university student the late Son Jeongmin (22), who was found dead after going missing at Seoul Hangang Park, expressed frustration that SBS's "I Want to Know That (Geu-al)" modified parts of the broadcast without any notice, saying, "I don't know if it was because they had no time to prepare or if it was intentional."

On the early morning of the 7th, Son posted on his blog, "After requesting several corrections to Geu-al, I was checking the correction notices every day on a homepage I didn't even want to visit," and added, "But when I watched the replay, everything had been changed without any notice about what was altered."

Regarding the deletion of expert remarks that appeared as if they were searching for Jeongmin's phone, Son said, "They were looking for a different phone, not Jeongmin's, but a ridiculous comment was broadcast," and mentioned that the part he pointed out "naturally disappeared" in the replay video.

He also addressed the scene reenacted at 2:18 a.m. on April 24, the day Jeongmin went missing, which was labeled as 3:37 a.m., saying, "It does not match any witness statements." Geu-al responded, "It was a reenactment of a witness's comment who said they saw a call at 3:37," and explained, "When we said it didn't match the 2:18 photo, it naturally disappeared."

Furthermore, Son said, "Friend A's family leaving the house does not match the CCTV time. It looks like they left 14 minutes after A entered the house, but it was actually 11 minutes," and Geu-al replied, "'The final time leaving the house was 5:05, so we put the subtitle that way,' they said."

Son emphasized, "Maybe that's why the last parking lot footage has no timestamp," and added, "But according to the police report, they left at 5:04." He continued, "I don't have the energy to argue about this anymore, so I think this should be the end. I'll stay strong this week as well."

Previously, in the episode aired on the 29th of last month, the actual recorded voice of A saying, "(When I woke up) Jeongmin definitely wasn't there. Jeongmin once passed out like this before," was revealed. However, Son said, "The 'Jeongmin' in A's statement is not our Jeongmin," and added, "There is another friend, but whether intentional or a mistake, the subtitle showed it as Jeongmin."

In response, Geu-al explained on the viewer board on the 1st, "Considering the context before and after the conversation, we judged it as referring to the late Son Jeongmin having once passed out like that before," but "After cross-checking again with Son Hyun and A, the subject of the sentence was another person B whose name and pronunciation are similar to the late Son Jeongmin. B was confirmed to be a friend who was close to the late Son Jeongmin and A."

Regarding this, Son said, "It feels like begging for forgiveness, but I'm glad even one misunderstanding was cleared up," and added, "I only requested corrections for the most noticeable parts to Geu-al, and my wife later reviewed it in detail and requested several corrections. I will let you know again if they are reflected."

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