PD Notebook Producer Detained
By Park Si-soo
Staff Reporter
The prosecution detained a second producer of MBC's investigative journal ``PD Notebook'' Wednesday after she had repeatedly refused to appear for questioning over alleged exaggerations of the risk of mad cow disease linked to American beef imports in an episode of the program aired April last year.
The prosecution said it apprehended producer Kim Bo-seul, 31, at 7:55 p.m. in Cheongdam-dong, southern Seoul.
The detention of Kim follows that of Lee Chun-keun, who was detained March 25 and released several days later.
Excluding Kim, the prosecution is seeking to summon two other producers and two writers, who were accused of maliciously editing the program's original content to exaggerate the risk of mad cow disease associated with U.S. beef.
According to her colleagues, Kim's wedding is scheduled this upcoming Sunday. She had been using MBC headquarters as a shelter for the past three weeks to avoid detention, they said, but she left there Wednesday to prepare for the ceremony at the risk of being detained.
In a message she posted on the broadcasting firm's intranet, she said, ``Even if I'm apprehended and questioned, I will never cooperate with prosecutors.''
On April 8, a group of prosecutors attempted to raid MBC headquarters to apprehend the six, who have been placed on a wanted list, and to seize unedited video footage and other materials pertaining to last year's episode, but failed after being physically confronted by nearly 100 union members from the company.
Meanwhile, MBC newsroom's managing director is facing mounting pressure to step down after management decided Monday to remove Shin Kyung-min, a prime-time news anchor, from his position. Shin had earned fame by rounding up the program with comments that were critical of government policies. The union argues managers had succumbed to pressure from the Lee Myung-bak administration.