'Netflix 2026' director Yu Ki-hwan expressed his distress over the drunk driving controversy involving 'Culinary Class Wars 2' chef Lim Seong-geun, saying "there are limits to checking an individual's criminal record."
On the morning of the 21st, 'Next on Netflix 2026 Korea' took place in the Grand Ballroom on the 3rd floor of the Conrad Seoul hotel in Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul. Present were Kang Dong-han, Netflix Korea head of content and VP; Bae Jong-byeong, series institutional sector senior director; Kim Tae-won, film sector director; Yu Ki-hwan, entertainment institutional sector director; and actors Jeon Do-yeon, Son Ye-jin, Park Eunbin, Nam Joo-hyuk, chef Anh Sung-jae, among others.
Marking Netflix's 10th anniversary of service in Korea, executives and directors mentioned the past decade and future vision, and upcoming releases this year included Possible Love starring Jeon Do-yeon, Donggung starring Nam Joo-hyuk, Scandal starring Son Ye-jin, Wonderfuls starring Park Eunbin, and Culinary Class Wars 3 featuring Anh Sung-jae appearing in person.
Recently, 'Culinary Class Wars 2' ended after receiving great acclaim, and chef Lim Seong-geun, who made the top seven, emerged as the hottest figure. However, not long ago he confessed to three past drunk driving incidents, saying "I like drinking, so I made mistakes," which sparked social controversy.
Lim Seong-geun was fined 2 million won and 3 million won respectively for drunk driving in 2009 and 2017. In 2020, he was driving in Gari-bong-dong, Guro-gu, Seoul with a blood alcohol concentration of 0.14% and was sentenced to one year in prison with a two-year suspended sentence, ordered to perform 80 hours of community service and attend 40 hours of safe driving lectures. However, a subsequent media report revealed that on Aug. 15, 1999, at around 8:25 p.m., he was caught driving about 3 km from Bupyeong-gu, Incheon to the Seo-gu area with a blood alcohol concentration of 0.153% and was fined 5 million won, drawing further criticism.
Yu Ki-hwan, entertainment institutional sector director, said, "There are more shows featuring ordinary people and reality programs, and viewers also want raw entertainment. So we recruit even more people," and added, "As you know, there are limits to checking an individual's background and criminal record."
He continued, "However, I can say confidently that for Culinary Class Wars and the like, we try to comply with what we can do within legal limits. We intend to produce other works the same way," and added, "Still, we are thinking about how to supplement this when such problems arise. We would appreciate it if you could see that we are doing everything possible within the available limits, even more than what we do for ordinary broadcasts."
[Photo] provided by Netflix
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