'Short' man's mental distress
2009-11-12 15:09
Seoul - A South Korean television viewer on Thursday filed a complaint with a media watchdog against the country's largest broadcaster over comments that he said humiliated short men.
The man is seeking 10 million won ($8 600) from KBS for mental distress over a programme in which a female student said "short men are losers", Yonhap news agency quoted the Press Arbitration Commission as saying.
The man gave his height as 1.62m.
The programme Beauties' Gossip features female students and foreign women giving their views on local culture and society.
On Monday's show a Korean college student said she could never date short men and that she viewed men shorter than 1.80m as "losers".
Internet users posted criticism at the comment. The student said she was only reading from the script provided by the producers, Yonhap reported.
"We did not realise the comments would cause so much controversy," a senior KBS official was quoted as saying.
