"Motivation for Killing Pregnant Wife Was a Game?" Gamers Outraged at KBS 'Smoking Gun'

"Misleading Hobby Activities as the Decisive Motive for the Crime"

The KBS current affairs program 'Smoking Gun,' which addressed game addiction as the cause of a doctor husband killing his pregnant wife, is expected to be subject to review by the Korea Communications Standards Commission.

The Game Users Association announced on the 13th that it filed a complaint for broadcast review with the Commission regarding the 'Smoking Gun' episode titled 'Husband who killed his pregnant wife, the reason?' aired on KBS2 on the 6th. The broadcast covered the 2011 case of a doctor's wife’s death, in which the doctor, Baek, who was arrested and indicted on charges of strangling his wife, was finally sentenced to 20 years in prison by the Supreme Court ruling in 2013.

The KBS2 current affairs program 'Smoking Gun' aired on the 6th.
[Image source=YouTube 'KBS Chujeok 60 Bun' capture]

The association raised concerns through the complaint about the broadcast citing gaming as the main motive for Baek’s crime. A psychiatrist featured in the program explained that Baek played strategy simulation games for 1 to 2 hours daily, and 8 to 10 hours during his university days. The expert further stated, "Baek showed tendencies to approach life strategically, as if clearing missions or quests," and "Games allow a 'reset' that breaks and rebuilds the existing world, and Baek seemed to want to perform this reset in the real world as well."

In the complaint, the association emphasized, "The problematic scenes misleadingly present a hobby that is difficult to definitively conclude as the motive or is merely one of several causes as the decisive motive for a heinous crime like familial murder," adding, "This disrespects and damages the reputation of Korea’s gaming industry and game users."

The association also posted a petition with the same intent on the KBS Viewer Center’s petition board to seek public support. Lee Cheol-woo, the association’s president and lawyer at the Munhwa Law Office, pointed out in the petition, "According to the Supreme Court ruling, the case resulted from a complex interplay of academic stress, the wife’s expression of dissatisfaction, and immersion in gaming to relieve anxiety," and criticized, "The broadcast’s explanation that it was due to game overindulgence or confusion between reality and gaming distorts the facts."

He added, "This constitutes a violation of fairness and objectivity under the 'Broadcast Review Regulations' as it broadcasts unclear content as fact, causing viewer confusion," and "Especially since the scene involves a public broadcaster dealing with a crime, the broadcast review standards should have been strictly observed, but they were not."

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