The EBS content character Pengsoo featured subtitles that evoked Ilbe, a far-right online community that has been controversial in the past, and the subtitles were deleted without an apology, drawing criticism.
In a recently released video on the YouTube channel Giant Peng TV titled This is the end of math for this year's college entrance exam!!!, Pengsoo meets Jeong Seung-je, a teacher famous for single-lecture math instruction for the college entrance exam, and receives intensive math coaching ahead of the exam.
Amid this, a subtitle reading "you've been caught" appeared during an explanation of logarithms and exponents, sparking controversy. When Jeong Seung-je corrected a problem while writing on the board considering Pengsoo's level, Pengsoo snapped, "Wait, why did you change it?" After Jeong Seung-je and the production staff laughed awkwardly, a subtitle that read "(you've been caught...)" appeared under Jeong Seung-je following Pengsoo's retort, "You were belittling me, you know?"
The suffix "-no" was frequently used on Ilbe (Daily Best Online), a far-right political community that had caused controversy in the past. It was often used under the guise of a strongly conservative Gyeongsang dialect to disparage the late President Roh Moo-hyun, and later drew criticism for differing from actual Gyeongsang dialect speech, leading to strong tendencies to caution against and taboo its use.
Moreover, no dialect appeared in Jeong Seung-je and Pengsoo's conversation, the production staff's reactions, or the subtitles. The unexplained appearance of "you've been caught" has led to accusations that the editing revealed Ilbe sympathies in Pengsoo.
Above all, some internet users criticized that the scene was deleted without any separate mention or apology. The video was released on the 24th of last month and was viewed by about 60,000 viewers over roughly 10 days. But from the moment it was posted, critical comments appeared in the video comments such as "What's with 'you've been caught' ?", "Suddenly 'you've been caught' ?", and "'No'?"
However, when the scene could no longer be found after about three days, comments such as "I thought there would be an explanation, but was it edited without a word?" emerged. In fact, the transition in the scene explaining logarithms and exponents between Jeong Seung-je and Pengsoo was noticeably awkward. The lack of a clear explanation and the apology-less edit that seemed to ignore criticism have drawn criticism for EBS's content aimed at students and Pengsoo, a character many minors enjoy.
[Photo] Source: YouTube.
[OSEN]