KBS apologizes for lying about chopper crash video
The fuselage of a destroyed rescue helicopter, which crashed into the sea Thursday, is moved to a special carrier at a port in Pohang, North Gyeongsang Province, Monday. Yonhap
By Bahk Eun-ji
KBS has apologized for lying about its video clip related to last week's rescue helicopter crash.
On Saturday, two days after the chopper carrying seven people crashed into the East Sea near Dokdo, the public broadcaster made a report about the incident saying it had exclusively obtained a video clip showing the helicopter taking off.
The video was recorded by a KBS technician who was on the islets to fix the broadcaster's equipment there. It shows the chopper landing on the helipad, loading an emergency patient and his friend, taking off and heading southward. It doesn't show the crash itself, which took place only two to three minutes after takeoff.
The next day, a person who identified himself as a member of the Dokdo Security Police left a comment on a portal site to say that they were aware of the KBS worker filming the scene so they asked him to provide the clip, which could help them locate the crashed chopper. However, the worker lied saying that he no longer had the video as he had deleted it.
“It is painful and infuriating that dozens of Dokdo police officers strived vainly to locate the crash site after the accident,” he wrote. “That many people couldn't sleep for two days but you slept well and left Dokdo, maybe for the joy of an exclusive report.”
As the controversy grew, KBS issued a statement late Sunday, saying, “We deeply apologize for the staffer's filming of the takeoff without prior permission, his denial of having the video, and our airing of the clip yesterday without thoroughly confirming the process.”
It added that Dokdo police requested the KBS worker share the video and he offered an excerpt of it to them immediately. It also said it handed over all the footage to the transport ministry's accident investigation team.
However, according to phone conversation records between the KBS employee and the police officers, released by Rep. Park Dae-chul of the Liberty Korea Party, Monday, the worker kept claiming his clip did not carry footage of the takeoff, or that he had removed it.
A spokesman of the National Fire Agency also said Monday in a radio interview that they had not been aware such a clip existed until KBS released the report.
Late Thursday night, the rescue helicopter, carrying seven people including one injured person, crashed minutes after taking off from Dokdo. The bodies of two people have been recovered so far, with the authorities continuing search operations for the remaining five.
The Donghae Coast Guard said one of the bodies was identified as the helicopter's co-pilot, and the other as the chief mechanic, according to DNA testing and fingerprint analysis.