SBS drama, 'Backstreet Rookie' has received statutory sanctions from the Korea Communications Standards Commission (KCSC) due to the portrayal of an underage female student kissing an adult man, prostitution, etc.

Previously, the drama was under review by the KCSC for their +19 scenes but the KCSC held a subcommittee meeting on the afternoon on July 29th KST. They decided to file a statutory sanction as a "warning" against the program. However, the "warning" is a heavy penalty that affects the reauthorization screening of broadcasters. The subcommittee stated that "In the process of producing an adult webtoon as a 'PG-15'-rated drama, the production team showed a lack of gender sensitivity to the extent that it causes discomfort and disgust to viewers."

The drama 'Backstreet Rookie' was adapted from the webtoon written for adults of the same name and has caused concerns even before it was broadcasted. The production team explained that the drama will be a "family drama that is far different from the original webtoon". However, the drama was rated PG-15 due to scenes such as a high school girl kissing an adult man, prostitution in motels, provocative lines directly from the webtoon, and even moaning sounds.

Countless viewers complained stating "This is inappropriate content to watch with family." There were as many as 7,000 complaints that were filed with the Korea Communications Standard Commission. Also, messages flooded the SBS viewers' bulletin board as viewers stated "The camera filmed certain scenes in a way that scans the underage high school girls' bodies and is very inappropriate." and "Should shut down the drama."

The Korea Communications Standards Commission judged that the drama violated the regulations on "maintaining integrity" and "language fit for broadcast". The scenes in problem were when a high school student kissing an adult man, mosaicing only a small part of a male webtoon writer as he was taking shower, and the scene of the webtoon artist moaning as he drew adult webtoons with only a towel over the bottom part of his body saying "The writer should be aroused for the drawing to look arousing."

Previously, SBS' review team submitted a "conditional broadcasting approval" in a preliminary review that "the drama can be broadcast on condition that the provocative scenes are deleted," but the production team did not accept it. The Korea Communications Standards Commission stated, "Statutory sanctions are inevitable due to repeated slangs and swear words."