"Mrs. Kim Jung-sook and Ms. Kim Gun-hee" Kim Eo-jun's Honorific Remarks... Civic Group Calls It "Human Rights Violation"

Broadcaster Kim Eo-jun. [Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Hwang Sumi] A conservative civic group has filed a complaint with the National Human Rights Commission, citing human rights violations, over broadcaster Kim Eo-jun referring to First Lady Kim Geon-hee as "Kim Geon-hee-ssi" on TBS Traffic Radio's "Kim Eo-jun's News Factory."

On the 3rd, the conservative civic group "Action Alliance for Upholding the Rule of Law (Beopse-ryeon)" stated that Kim referred to President Yoon Seok-yeol's spouse Kim Geon-hee as "Kim Geon-hee-ssi." They claim that the TBS public broadcaster host, who is required to maintain broadcasting fairness and political neutrality, intentionally used this form of address based on his political stance.

According to the group, Kim mentioned on the TBS radio program "Kim Eo-jun's News Factory" on the 30th of last month, "President Yoon and his wife Kim Geon-hee-ssi spending time with their pet dog at the Yongsan office made headlines last weekend," and "A photo of Kim Geon-hee-ssi sitting in the presidential office was released through a fan club."

Regarding this, the group pointed out that Kim usually refers to the spouses of former Presidents Moon Jae-in and Roh Moo-hyun as "Yeosa" (First Lady). They argued, "Referring to only President Yoon's spouse as 'Kim Geon-hee-ssi' can only be seen as an intention to belittle and ignore her based on a biased political stance."

The group emphasized, especially since Kim is a public broadcaster host, that "calling someone 'Yeosa' if they are on our side and 'ssi' if they are on the opposing side is a serious case of unfair and biased broadcasting." They urged the Human Rights Commission to recommend that host Kim use the title "Yeosa" when referring to the president's spouse to establish fairness in TBS broadcasting, protect Seoul citizens' listening rights, and safeguard human rights.

Meanwhile, the controversy over the form of address for the president's spouse first arose shortly after former President Moon's inauguration in May 2017. At that time, some media outlets referred to former President Lee Myung-bak's spouse as "Kim Yoon-ok Yeosa" but used "Kim Jung-sook-ssi" for former President Moon's spouse, drawing criticism. After the controversy, these media outlets announced that they would change the form of address for the president's spouse from "ssi" to "Yeosa."

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