The Korean Broadcasting System (KBS) has confirmed that it is halting production of the 'Sewol Ferry Tragedy 10th Anniversary Documentary'. The decision came amidst concerns that airing it in April could impact the upcoming general elections.

Lee Jae Won, director of productions, conveyed the suspension decision to the team during a meeting with the current affairs and culture department director on February 21. He explained, "The Korean Broadcasting System (KBS) has also stated that they cannot broadcast in April, and if there is no broadcast in April, the participants will not be able to cooperate, so they have no choice but to stop production." According to reports, the documentary was about 40% completed.

Attempts to change the decision to suspend the documentary production were unsuccessful. Jo Ae Jin, a member of the Docu Insight team, spoke at a press conference on February 19 about the difficult situation. Jo Ae Jin explained that Lee Jae Won, who recently took office, had instructed them to "produce the documentary to air in June as a series focusing on the recovery from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), linking other tragedies, as the documentary could influence the general election on April 18 (if the documentary airs on April 10)."

Before the final decision was made, the responsible producer had to meet with the documentary's participants to explain the situation and apologize. Lee In Geon, the producer in charge of directing the documentary, expressed his disappointment in an interview on the same day. He emphasized that public broadcasting is "supposed to give a voice to those who are often overlooked by commercial networks. Unfortunately, they couldn't share the stories of the Sewol Ferry Disaster survivors due to unacceptable reasons," and he apologized to viewers for this.

The National Union of Media Workers (NUJ) at KBS has requested a meeting of the TV Scheduling Committee. This committee protects the autonomy of KBS from external pressures and ensures the authority of its news and production staff. Lee In Geon stated that if the issue isn't resolved at the scheduling committee meeting next Tuesday (the 27th), they will take it to the Fair Broadcasting Commission.

KBS responded to questions regarding the documentary's suspension by reiterating their previous explanation. They mentioned that they had decided to air the documentary after June to include other major disasters, like the Cheonan Naval Ship sinking and the Daegu Subway Disaster, in line with the original planning concept. They clarified that this decision was made shortly after the new director took office in December last year.

Korean netizens commented, "The production team should take this to Netflix," "What kind of reason is that?" "Netflix should take this over," "KBS should go to hell," "That is ridiculous," "This year is the 10th anniversary..." "I'm boycotting KBS," "Wow, and they still call themselves a public broadcast company?" "It's already 10 years since the tragedy," and "The audacity of KBS."