Amid controversy that the Disney+ variety show "Fate War 49" used the cause of death of a firefighter who died in the line of duty as a mission theme for a saju reading, the production team said the material was "provided with consent."
On the 18th, the "Fate War 49" production team said in a statement, "The personal stories featured in this program were provided with understanding and consent, based on prior consultation and explanation with the individuals concerned or their families and other representatives."
The team added, "In this process, we explained the planning intent and format of a survival program featuring fortune-tellers, and consent was also obtained for providing related information and using likenesses," and noted, "Fully recognizing the sensitivity of the matter, we carefully reviewed the related content throughout the production process and made the program."
"Fate War 49" is a survival variety show in which 49 fate practitioners gather to test their own destinies through various missions.
The scene in question was the "guess the cause of death of the deceased" mission in episode 2, released on the 11th. At the time, the production team presented clues such as a photo of a deceased person, birth time, and time of death, and shamans inferred the cause of death based on them.
The deceased introduced in the broadcast was Fire Sergeant Kim Cheol-hong, who died in the line of duty at a fire scene in Hongje-dong, Seodaemun District, Seoul, in 2001. Some cast members cited the deceased's saju reading to mention the possibility of fire, collapse, or crushing.
After the broadcast, criticism emerged on social media (SNS) and elsewhere that it "is not respectful to the deceased."
The controversy grew when a user claiming to be a family member of the deceased posted a protest on SNS saying, "It demeans the death of someone who died while saving others."
A user who said the person was the deceased's nephew wrote, "I listened to a recorded call between a writer (from Fate War 49) and my aunt. They did say a shaman would appear, but said they would look at what kind of person the righteous one was through saju and honor the noble sacrifice," and added, "Watching the show, the shamans were guessing how the deceased passed away, and the cast members were amazed and laughing. I have no idea how this honors my uncle's sacrifice."