MBC has gone too far, even distorting student statements on national affairs. While it's true that MBC has been defending the Democratic Party and effectively campaigning for them, this crosses the minimum line that the media should uphold, a truly heinous act.

Student councils from 18 universities nationwide announced their statements on national affairs on the afternoon of June 10th. In their declarations prepared by each university, students defined the shortage of ballots in the June 3rd local elections as a violation of fundamental national rights and demanded thorough reform.

However, MBC's Newsdesk reported this with an unexpected headline: " 'Provided an Excuse for Seditionists' ... Statements on National Affairs Spread on Campuses." Viewers seeing this would have felt that the core of the students' statements on national affairs was the argument that "we must not give an excuse for resistance to the right-wing of South Korea."

Anchor Jo Hyun-yong explained the report as follows: "Criticizing the shortage of ballots, student councils from 18 universities nationwide announced statements on national affairs. While urging a thorough investigation and reform of the Election Commission, voices were raised strongly condemning the Election Commission for providing an excuse for seditious elements."

Reporter Choi Da-ham then began his report with a sketch of a suggestion box installed at Yonsei University. In an interview with a Yonsei University student, the "seditious elements" claim emerged. "We strongly condemn the Election Commission for providing an excuse to seditious elements," the student stated. Based on this student's claim, MBC defined the core of the 18 universities' statements on national affairs as "providing an excuse for sedition."

MBC, out of nowhere, smeared the statements, which were carefully crafted and shared by young students after deep contemplation on national affairs, with hostility towards the right-wing, distorting their meaning. Although students repeatedly emphasized at every statement session that this was a matter of democracy unrelated to political factions, it seems that such pleas were not even worth a scoff to MBC reporters.

Only MBC acted this way. Even media outlets with perceived left-leaning tendencies made some effort to report on the university statements on national affairs by excluding partisan perspectives. On June 10th, the Hankyoreh reported, "The overarching message was the same: to define this incident as a violation of suffrage by the state and to focus on the essence of the event, where democratic basic procedures were paralyzed, rather than political disputes." Kyunghyang Shinmun wrote, "Students identified the core of this incident as a violation of suffrage," and Hankook Ilbo reported, "Students cited the infringement of the one-person, one-vote principle as the core of this incident."

No daily newspaper or broadcasting station, except for MBC, put "providing an excuse for seditious elements" in their headlines or prominently in their reports. Even those that mentioned it did so as a passing remark towards the end of the article.

The Hankyoreh included a sentence in its report: "At Yonsei University, during a free speech session, there were debates over whether statements on national affairs should be used as a means of political struggle after a student mentioned 'martial law' and 'sedition,' while criticizing the Election Commission for creating space for those who advocate for election fraud."

Dong-A Ilbo also reported: "At Yonsei University, during the free speech session following the statement on national affairs, one student criticized that 'the Election Commission provided an excuse to those who advocate for election fraud and martial law,' leading to an argument with another student who questioned, 'Why bring up martial law?'" No media outlet, with the exception of MBC, viewed this as a core issue of the university statements on national affairs.

Cardinal Stephen Kim Sou-hwan once said, "If the media reports the truth, the people will live in light, but if it degenerates into a handmaiden of power, they will live in darkness." It has been a long time since MBC has been perceived as a "handmaiden of power" that pushes people into darkness. Now, even calls for the restoration of democracy are being twisted and deceived.

June 10, 2026

Citizens' Coalition for Fair Media