and the TV broadcast of “Suzume no Tojiri” (The Sparrows’ Door-Closing), which was scheduled for Christmas Eve, was suddenly canceled due to criticism of “traitors”.
The possibility of a progressive government being established in South Korea in the near future is increasing. If this happens, the “No Japan” storm will once again sweep through South Korean society. The cancellation of the broadcast of “Suzume no Tojiri” can be said to be an episode that suggests such a future.
■ Sudden and fierce criticism of the TV broadcast of “Suzume no Todomari”, which was also a big hit in South Korea
Suzume no Todomari was released in South Korea in March 2023, attracting 5.57 million viewers and setting a new record for the most viewers of any Japanese animated film of all time. This is the latest work by director Makoto Shinkai, who has many fans in Korea for works such as Your Name and Weathering with You, but at the time of its release, The First Slam Dunk was also a huge hit across generations in the Korean theater district, and Suzume no Todomari was also counted as one of the works that symbolized the Japanese culture boom occurring among young people in Korea.
However, the winds of Korean society seem to have changed direction suddenly in recent weeks. When it was announced that this popular anime would be broadcast on public broadcaster KBS2 as a special Christmas movie on the night of the 24th, there was a huge outcry, particularly on the internet.
“At a time like this, they’re still showing this without considering the public’s feelings!
“It’s just like a broadcasting station that sells out to Japan. Change your name to JBS (Japan Broadcasting System)!”
“The KBS Entertainment YouTube logo also had a Japanese feel to it.”
“I can’t help but feel disgusted with Japan.”
“As expected of a broadcasting station that has been swallowed up by a government of traitors.”
Among the criticisms, there were also some logical criticisms such as “the background is summer, so it doesn’t fit with Christmas” and “scenes where minors work part-time in bars are shown, which is not desirable for a public broadcasting station to broadcast,” but the majority of the comments were driven by anti-Japanese sentiment.
Faced with such intense criticism, KBS hastily cancelled the broadcast of ‘The Sparrows’ and instead broadcast the Korean romantic comedy film ’30 Days’ as an emergency program.
■ ‘Madam Butterfly’ on August 15
Since the Yoon Seok-yul administration came to power, KBS has faced a lot of criticism for its “pro-Japanese broadcasts”. On this year’s August 15th, the anniversary of Korea’s liberation from Japanese colonial rule, it came under national criticism for broadcasting the Japanese national anthem, ‘Kimigayo’. The KBS Live Broadcast Studio, which records and broadcasts stage performances, broadcast a recording of Puccini’s opera Madama Butterfly, which was performed at the Seoul Arts Center at the end of June, but the fact that the broadcast of this work, which is set in Japan, was scheduled for 0:00 on August 15th, led to problems.
Although it is a world-famous opera, for Koreans it was not the performance itself that was the problem, but the frequent appearances of kimonos and the Japanese national anthem in the work. Almost all of the media in Korea criticized KBS, saying, “How can they broadcast the Japanese national anthem on Liberation Day? One entertainment website posted a provocative article saying, ”The subscription fee I paid has been returned to me as pro-Japanese treason.”
In response to this, KBS repeatedly apologized, saying that “the broadcast was originally scheduled for the end of July, but was postponed due to the Olympic Games and broadcast at dawn on the day of Korea’s liberation”, and that “due to the unusual schedule, the production team was unable to check and consider whether there were any problems with the content of the broadcast or whether the timing was appropriate”, but in the end, they were heavily reprimanded by the Broadcast Review Committee.
■ Even the logo was criticized
On August 15th this year, there was also a claim that the logo on the KBS Entertain YouTube channel looked like Japanese hiragana. KBS Entertain is KBS’s official YouTube channel with 5.53 million subscribers, but there was a suspicion raised, mainly in online communities, that the logo was derived from the Japanese “henohenomoheji”.
KBS issued a statement, explaining that “the logo (ent) of the KBS Entertain channel is a design that has been used since November 2019, and is a globally-recognizable design that depicts a smile in the form of letters,” and emphasizing that “it is not based on Japanese characters,” but net users were not swayed by this argument, with comments such as “it definitely looks like hiragana,” “even if you don’t know hiragana, it looks like hiragana,” and “even if you ride the KTX, it looks like hiragana.”
KBS is a public broadcaster in South Korea, and as such, it is required to have a more rigorous, objective and fair perspective than commercial broadcasters. However, during the Moon Jae-in administration, KBS became a propaganda medium that was convenient for the left-leaning administration, which viewed conservatives as enemies, with a biased perspective to the left.
In particular, it has attacked conservative politicians and the conservative media in its historical documentaries and investigative journalism, and has stirred up anti-Japanese sentiment in line with the anti-Japanese tone of the Moon Jae-in administration.
Even though the administration has changed, the KBS management team appointed by the Moon Jae-in administration has not changed its stance of focusing on criticizing the Yoon administration and the conservative ruling party, and is still under the protection of the Democratic Party of Korea, which is the largest party in the National Assembly.
In March 2012, while broadcasting live the Japan-Korea summit meeting held in Japan, KBS made a distorted comment, saying, “We are seeing President Yoon Seok-yol salute the Japanese flag,” while broadcasting the image of President Yoon visiting the official residence of Prime Minister Kishida.
At the time, the guard of honor was holding the Japanese and Korean flags side by side, and President Yun made a bow towards the Korean flag, but the camera angle meant that the Korean flag was not visible, and the KBS reporter reported that President Yun was bowing to the Japanese flag, in an attempt to stir up anti-Japanese sentiment among Koreans.
In the main news report on the South Korean government’s “Proposal for the Resolution of the Issue of Forced Labor through Third-Party Payment”, the report focused on the opposition and critical reactions of the bereaved families of the forced laborers and related organizations that had filed the lawsuit, and in the case of the Fukushima treated water discharge issue, it seems that the news was not enough, and they brought back a current affairs program that had been abolished and attacked the government and ruling party.
In November 2011, the journalist Park Min, who had been appointed by the Yoon Seok-yul administration, became president, but since then, progressive internet users have been calling KBS a “pro-Japanese, traitorous broadcaster”, and since the imposition of martial law, they have been attacking it as “complicit in Yoon Seok-yul’s civil war”.
If a progressive administration is formed through impeachment and early presidential elections, KBS will once again play a role in inciting anti-Japanese sentiment at the forefront of the progressive movement. JBpress
