Before the broadcast, MBN's new entertainment program "Under Fifteen," which has been embroiled in controversy over the sexualization of children, has decided to hold an emergency press conference.
The production team of "Under Fifteen" announced on the 24th that an emergency briefing regarding the production will take place on the 25th at 2 p.m. at the Stanford Hotel Korea in Sangam-dong, Seoul. This briefing is an unplanned event, and Seo Hye-jin, CEO of Creystudio, along with Producers Yong Seok-in and Lee Guk-yong, will attend, screening parts of the broadcast and participating in a Q&A session with the press. There will not be a separate photo session.
"Under Fifteen" is a global audition program set to air its first episode on the 31st. It aims to discover K-pop prodigies aged 15 and under. However, after the teaser video and participant profiles were released, excessive styling of the minor participants became an issue, raising concerns about the sexualization of children.
In particular, the insertion of "barcodes" at the bottom of each participant's profile photo shocked many and received criticism for treating child and adolescent participants as blatant commodities.
As the controversy escalates, the broadcasting company has stated that it is conducting a thorough review of the program's composition and whether to air it, and an official stance from the headquarters is also anticipated.
The production team conveyed that due to the controversy, participants and guardians are experiencing significant psychological shock, and emphasized that all participants joined the program voluntarily with the consent of their guardians, and that standards to protect minors were strictly adhered to during the production process.
Additionally, teaser videos related to the main program are scheduled to be released through the official Creystudio channel, and viewers have been asked to check the content themselves before making judgments.