MBC, a Seoul-based broadcaster, has offered an apology over its controversial report about the danger of mad cow disease that triggered public uproar against U.S. beef imports.
MBC, one of the country's three major networks, said in a two-minute broadcast Tuesday night, "We would like to offer a sincere apology to our viewers (over the report)."
Airing the apology, the broadcaster conceded that the program made six translation errors in its report on the death of a young American woman. Distrust of U.S. beef intensified over an interview with the mother of the woman who suspected, according to MBC's translation, that her daughter died from the human form of mad cow disease, or variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (vCJD). The interview ran counter to the official U.S. stance that no one has died from mad cow disease in the country.
The broadcaster also acknowledged that it mistakenly identified images of "downers," or cattle that cannot stand or walk, as cattle hit by mad cow disease.
The apology came after the Korea Communications Commission, the country's broadcasting watchdog, ordered MBC the previous day to apologize to its viewers over the April 29 report on the danger of mad cow disease.
The Seoul Southern District Court ordered the broadcaster late last month to air a correction on the report by the popular MBC current affairs program "PD Notebook," saying the report was partially wrong and exaggerated the threat of mad cow disease, upholding the government's complaint over the report.
But MBC has insisted the report was intended to call for measures to safeguard public health.
After the report aired, tens of thousands took to the streets against an agreement Seoul and Washington signed April 18 to unconditionally resume U.S. beef imports.
PD Notepad has built a strong reputation over the years with groundbreaking reports that have sent ripples across the world, such as the 2006 scoop that termed stem cell scientist Hwang Woo-suk's scientific achievement as fraudulent.
In 2003, South Korea closed its market to U.S. beef after a case of mad cow disease was reported at a U.S. cattle farm. The Lee administration agreed to fully lift the import ban in April, hoping that it would encourage the U.S. Congress to ratify a free trade agreement with South Korea.
But the blanket agreement prompted massive public protests in South Korea. In response, Seoul and Washington added an age limit on U.S. beef imports to allay concerns over mad cow disease. U.S. beef went on sale here in early July under new quarantine rules.