A subtitle in the EBS content character "Pengsoo", operated by the educational broadcaster EBS, evoked Ilbe, a far-right online community that was controversial in the past, but it was deleted without an apology, drawing criticism.
In a video titled 'This will end this year's college entrance exam math!!!' recently posted on the YouTube channel 'Giant PengTV', Pengsoo meets Jeong Seung-je, a math instructor famous for one-shot lectures for the CSAT math section, and is shown receiving an intensive math cram lecture ahead of the CSAT.
Meanwhile, a subtitle saying "you've been caught" appeared during the explanation of logarithms and exponents, sparking controversy. When Jeong Seung-je corrected a problem during the board writing considering Pengsoo's level, Pengsoo protested, "Wait, why did you change it?" After Jeong Seung-je and the production staff smiled awkwardly, and Pengsoo asked, "Are you looking down on me?", a subtitle reading "(you've been caught...)" appeared below Jeong Seung-je.
The suffix '-no' was frequently used on Ilbe (Ilgan Best 저장소), a far-right political community that caused controversy in the past. It was often used under the guise of Gyeongsang-do dialect with strong conservative tendencies to disparage the late President Roh Moo-hyun, and later there were strong criticisms that it differed from actual Gyeongsang-do dialect speech, leading to caution and taboo around its use.
Moreover, neither the conversation between Jeong Seung-je and Pengsoo nor the production team's reactions or the subtitles featured any dialect. The unexplained appearance of "you've been caught" during editing has led to accusations that "Pengsoo" revealed an Ilbe tendency during the editing process.
Above all, some internet users have criticized that the scene was removed without any mention or apology. The video was posted on the 24th of last month and was viewed by about 60,000 viewers over roughly 10 days. However, from immediately after its release, critical comments such as "What's with 'you've been caught'?", "Suddenly, you've been caught?", and "No?" appeared in the video's comments.
But when the scene could not be found about three days later, criticisms such as "I expected an explanation, but was it edited out without a word?" also appeared. In fact, the transition in the logarithm and exponent explanation between Jeong Seung-je and Pengsoo was somewhat awkward and stood out. The lack of a clear explanation and the deletion without an apology in the EBS content aimed at many minors and examinees has drawn criticism.
[Photo] YouTube source.
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