An entertainment program that repeatedly aired unfiltered closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage from a child abuse case in which a 3-year-old died has received a statutory sanction.

The Broadcast Media and Communications Commission held a plenary meeting on Sunday at the Korea Broadcasting Hall in Mok-dong, Seoul, and voted to issue a statutory "caution" to KBS Joy's "The Man Who Runs the Charts Dark edition."

While covering a case in which a stepfather killed his 3-year-old daughter by throwing her into a swimming pool several times, the program repeatedly showed scenes of the child flailing in the water and the stepfather throwing an inner tube to the weakened child. The broadcast also carried on-screen captions including, "It was almost like he was throwing the child."

Under current regulations on broadcast review, footage or audio of child abuse must not be shown directly or recreated in a sensational way. The commission said, "Even taking into account the production's intent to raise awareness of family crime, broadcasting scenes of child abuse must be handled very carefully." It also said it was a bigger problem that the broadcaster did not reflect concerns raised in its internal review process that caution was needed.

At the meeting, an NS Home Shopping broadcast of "Salon de Master Ssyuk Ssyuk Hair Serum" also received a statutory "caution" for misleading viewers into thinking a functional cosmetic that helps alleviate hair-loss symptoms also has hair-growth effects.

In the broadcast, the host made a hand gesture as if hair was sprouting from the head and said, "It really is ssyuk ssyuk," and "A lot of younger people get hair transplants. But it's thousands. You don't need to live like that." The commission judged the remarks could mislead consumers into thinking the product has hair-growth effects.

It also pointed to a claim that cumulative sales tallied since March 2022 were "50 billion won, it didn't even take a year," as exaggerating sales performance.

The commission said, "Using a famous host to present effects with an uncertain basis and inflated sales figures to deceive consumers makes a statutory sanction unavoidable."