The National Election Commission (NEC) issued an official apology for using a skate fish (hongeo) shape in an official promotional video aired during KBS's vote-counting broadcast for the June 3 local elections.
In a press release Thursday, the NEC said, "We deeply apologize to the public for including an image in a video that the NEC co-produced with KBS and used for promotion, which could be seen as disparaging a specific region."
The NEC explained, "The video in question was a promotional video produced by KBS ahead of the local elections to help voters understand vote-count observation, and it was posted on the NEC's official YouTube channel." It added, "In a scene in the middle where a character sighs, an image that could amount to disparagement of a specific region was exposed, and issues were raised regarding this."
The commission continued, "As soon as we became aware of the problem, we made the video private on the official YouTube channel. After KBS checked the production process, it was confirmed that there was no intention whatsoever to disparage a specific region or group, and KBS delivered an official apology through its 9 o'clock news."
The observer promotional video, posted by the NEC's official YouTube channel on May 28, featured a graphic resembling a skate fish, sparking a regional disparagement controversy. In a scene where the characters in the video sigh, a skate fish shape — used by far-right communities such as Ilbe to disparage the Honam region — appeared, raising suspicions that there may have been an intent to disparage a specific region.
Meanwhile, KBS also apologized the previous day through an anchor's comments on "News 9," saying, "We deeply apologize for the fact that video graphics that could be seen as disparaging a specific region were broadcast during yesterday's vote-counting broadcast." It added, "The video in question was produced by KBSN, a KBS subsidiary, and KBS will conduct a thorough investigation and hold those involved in the production strictly accountable."
