On August 7, 2024, JTBC, one of the news channels in South Korea, released CCTV footage that they claimed was evidence of a drunk driving incident involving one of BTS's members, Suga. The recording drew a lot of reactions from netizens in the media and among BTS fans, ARMY.
However, things got confusing when on August 14, 2024, DongA Ilbo revealed that the recording was not Suga's. The incident began when Suga fell around Hannam-dong, Seoul, after allegedly driving under the influence of alcohol. Police who were around the location detected the smell of alcohol.
They then took Suga to the nearest police station for questioning. The test results showed his blood alcohol content reached 0.227 percent, far above the legal limit in South Korea. JTBC was the first media outlet to publish this incident on August 7, 2024, they released CCTV showing someone riding an electric scooter on a main road.
However, exactly a week after the JTBC CCTV video was released, DongA Ilbo claimed that the footage released by JTBC had nothing to do with Suga's case. DongA Ilbo then released a CCTV that was allegedly true, showing Suga riding an electric scooter and falling in front of his house gate.
After DongA Ilbo exposed the inaccuracy of JTBC's footage, JTBC quickly deleted the CCTV video they had released. However, they did not immediately provide an explanation or clarification regarding the deletion of the video. Although JTBC has replaced the footage, many feel that it is not enough.
Netizens criticized JTBC for simply deleting the video without any apology. They believe that JTBC has made a big mistake and should immediately apologize and provide clarification. Some netizens even questioned JTBC's credibility, considering that this was not the first time the error had occurred, and said that the news channel's reputation was being tarnished.
It wasn't until August 15, 2024, in their evening news broadcast that JTBC finally admitted their mistake. They explained that the CCTV footage they aired earlier was not actually related to the Suga incident. As reported by Koreaboo, JTBC clarified that the CCTV footage they previously released was not Suga's.
JTBC explained that after further police investigation, it was discovered that Suga was not the one operating the vehicle in the video. “JTBC published CCTV footage showing a scooter driving down a main road across from Nine One Hannam, from a time similar to when police found Suga, the following day.
However, after the police investigated the route and so on, it was confirmed that it was not Suga who was operating the vehicle in the video .” - JTBC JTBC then replaced the old footage with new footage released by DongA Ilbo. After further investigation, police confirmed that the person in the CCTV video first released by JTBC was not Suga.
Suga was actually riding a folding electric scooter from Brand E. The vehicle has a speed limit of 30km/h, slightly higher than the 25km/h limit for electric scooters in general. This puts Suga under the traffic laws that apply to motorcycles.
Despite the confusion surrounding the different CCTV footage, police confirmed that Suga followed the traffic rules applicable to the type of vehicle he was using. As of now, JTBC has yet to officially apologize for their mistake in releasing the wrong CCTV footage. The public and netizens continue to demand an apology and further clarification.
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