A screen grab from MBC's "I Live Alone" shows broadcaster Jeon Hyun-moo departing on what was presented as a spontaneous trip to Almaty, Kazakhstan. [MBC]
A screen grab from MBC's "I Live Alone" shows broadcaster Jeon Hyun-moo departing on what was presented as a spontaneous trip to Almaty, Kazakhstan. [MBC]

MBC's variety program "I Live Alone" came under fire at a National Assembly national audit Thursday, with lawmakers saying the show not only staged broadcaster Jeon Hyun-moo's trip to Kazakhstan as a spontaneous journey but also misled the public in its subsequent explanation — while the phrase "spontaneous trip" remained on the show's official YouTube channel.

Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker Kim Nam-kuk raised the controversy at Thursday's national audit of the Korea Broadcasting Culture Promotion Association, held by the National Assembly's Science, Technology, Information, Broadcasting and Communications Committee.

"I Live Alone" aired footage in August showing Jeon deciding on the spot at Incheon Airport to fly to Almaty, Kazakhstan, where he rented a car and traveled around the country. Suspicions of staging soon emerged, however, as observers noted that driving in Kazakhstan requires notarized documents, that the Kazakhstani government had publicly stated it provided production support, and that it would have been logistically difficult for a large crew to secure flights at the last minute. The production team explained that Jeon had genuinely chosen Kazakhstan on impulse and that the crew had simply anticipated the possibility and prepared in advance. That explanation also came under scrutiny after it emerged that a pre-production script submitted to Incheon Airport authorities in July — when the crew applied for filming permission — already contained a line in which Jeon says, "How about going to Kazakhstan?" Some viewers also criticized Jeon for continuing to appear on other programs and host travel-related content without ever publicly addressing the controversy.

"If it was a scripted fiction dressed up as a reality show, that is a deception of the public," Kim said. "Whether it is news or entertainment, broadcasters must uphold their basic duty not to undermine public trust in the process of delivering content."

Kim said the production team "deceived the public once again" in the way it handled its explanation. He also noted that the phrase "spontaneous trip" was still visible in the title of the relevant video on MBC's official YouTube channel.

Kang Hyung-chul, chairman of the Korea Broadcasting Culture Promotion Association, said in response that "a reality program must be real — if it is not, it loses public trust, as you have said," adding that the incident "should serve as an opportunity to review the transparency of both the review process and the explanation process so that similar cases do not recur."

Kang said he would "oversee and supervise management to ensure this becomes an opportunity for comprehensive reflection."


paq@heraldcorp.com