CJ E&M damages Milan Cathedral

By Jung Min-ho

Milan Cathedral

CJ E&M has come under fire for allegedly allowing three PR officials to fly a drone ― that slammed into Milan Cathedral Monday ― even though it knew flying the machine was illegal.

When the issue was raised in Korea, CJ E&M, one of the nation’s largest entertainment and media content firms, apologized Wednesday for the “ill-considered action” that damaged the cathedral, the fifth largest in the world.

But the firm claimed that it did not know that flying the drone over the Italian city was illegal, which later turned out to be a lie.

According to local media, the three men were immediately arrested by Italian police for damaging the cathedral after the drone crashed into a construction cable on its roof. It narrowly avoided hitting the famous gold Madonna statue.

The PR officials, who went to Milan to give a presentation at the Korean pavilion of the Expo in the city, said they were shooting a promotional video for the company.

The crash did not cause serious damage according to Veneranda Fabbrica, the organization responsible for work and maintenance on the cathedral; it just caused the cable to become unhooked.

However, the company is taking plenty of flak, following revelations that the Korean Embassy in Italy and Expo officials told the company that flying drones was illegal.

Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Kim Jong-deok also said in an interview with KBS, it is “regretful” that the company ignored the advice not to fly the drone.

The charges they are going to face have not been determined yet. Local media outlets report that Italian police are still trying to figure out if any laws about the use of remote control devices or filming in the city have been violated.

In a statement, CJ E&M promised to make efforts to prevent similar accidents.

“We recognize that we failed to manage every detail of the production,” the company said. “The three people are staying in Milan after being released by police. We will continue to cooperate with further investigations.”

The cathedral, one of the main attractions in the historic city, was under continuous construction and renovation projects for nearly 600 years until it was officially completed in 1965.

This is not the first time that people have got in trouble by flying drones overseas. In October last year, an Israeli tourist was jailed for flying one over the main attractions in Paris.

To prevent such accidents, some countries have made laws that govern operation of drones.

The technical name of drones is “Unmanned Aerial Vehicles.” They are generally used to carry out tasks in which manned flight is considered to be risky. Drones mostly find use in military service, but nowadays are finding use in various civilian operations such as search and rescue, weather analysis and video shooting.