It has been revealed that Inje County, Gangwon, paid more than 500 million won in taxes to a subsidiary of Theborn Korea, which is headed by Baek Jong-won. The payment was made on the condition of producing promotional videos for the local festival and uploading them to Baek's YouTube channel. The amount paid is equivalent to one-third of Inje County's budget for the local festival.
According to the Inje County Cultural Foundation on the 28th, Inje County paid 550 million won to Theborn Korea's subsidiary, TMC Enter, for promotional expenses related to the local festival held from June 14 to 23 last year. The condition was to produce and broadcast two promotional videos on Baek Jong-won's YouTube channel.
TMC Enter is a multi-channel network (MCN) corporation that includes Baek Jong-won, among others, such as Chef Lee Mi-young (the school meal master), who is a former participant of "Culinary Class Wars," and Im Tae-hoon (the iron bag chef).
The money paid to TMC Enter by the county corresponds to 28% of the local festival budget (1.95 billion won). As per the contract, Baek posted videos titled "I have struggled for a few days" and "Attention for those tired of festival overcharging" on YouTube on June 9 and July 8 last year, respectively. The two videos recorded 850,000 and 560,000 views, respectively.
Public opinion is chilly. This is because the 'drum grill' and 'pesticide sprayer' that stirred controversy in other regional festivals were also used in the Inje festival. There are criticisms that Inje County invested excessive taxpayer money. Therefore, Inje County decided not to collaborate this year.