Baek Jong-won, Swore at Production Crew and Pressured to Withdraw.. Broadcasting Company was a Super Power.. PD Reveals More

[Financial News] Kim Jae-hwan, former MBC PD, has additionally exposed allegations of power abuse related to Baek Jong-won, CEO of The Born Korea.

Kim PD appeared on the YouTube channel 'Maebul Show' on the 22nd and said about Baek's broadcasting power abuse allegations, "Baek Jong-won swears a lot at the broadcasting crew and production team."

He continued, "Baek Jong-won himself admitted to me that he 'lived with swearing on his lips'," and claimed, "When the camera is off, Baek Jong-won is a person who swears a lot. Employees who have worked at The Born Korea for a long time also testified in unison that they were subjected to verbal abuse."

Kim PD added, "I directly told Baek Jong-won, 'I wish you wouldn't swear at employees or the production team. I wish you wouldn't bother the people you work with less' and 'Don't call and fire them'."

He also claimed that Baek directly pressured the production team to block singer Kim Ho-jung's appearance on SBS's 'Delicious Square' and a university professor's appearance on other broadcasting stations.

Kim PD added, "Baek Jong-won is a 'super power' to SBS," and "The person who supported SBS blocked singer Kim Ho-jung's program appearance with a single phone call, which is a fact. The production team also colluded, so no one could talk about it until now."

However, Baek Jong-won previously explained about the claim, "Even the president of a broadcasting company can't do that. It's nonsense for me to say fire or not."




Kim PD also raised the issue of Baek's 'Original Daepae Samgyeopsal' controversy through his YouTube channel.

Baek registered the trademark for Daepae Samgyeopsal for the first time in August 1996. However, Kim PD claimed, "The Daepae Samgyeopsal menu existed before, but Baek lied on the broadcast by saying 'I registered the trademark for Daepae Samgyeopsal' instead of 'I developed it'."

He continued, "(Baek) said he accidentally made it by putting it in a meat slicer used for slicing ham to save money on buying a meat slicer in 1993," and "It was already known as Daepae Samgyeopsal in Busan. I ate Daepae Samgyeopsal before going to the military after graduating from university in 1992."

He added, "Is he committing fraud by claiming he developed food that was sold all over Korea? I thought 'what a funny person' and forgot about it."

Meanwhile, Baek faced 14 police investigations starting with the controversy over the 'Paek Ham' gift set's ham content and price in January this year, followed by allegations of violating the Agricultural Land Act, indoor high-pressure gas cooking, and country of origin labeling errors.

Afterwards, he posted two apologies but declared a halt to broadcasting due to the continuous negative incidents and stated that he would focus on his duties as a company rather than a broadcaster.

moon@fnnews.com Moon Young-jin Reporter