S. Korea Control of Television Shows Alleged

Television station KSCI in San Bernardino broadcasts Korean-language programs through an organization controlled by the South Korean government, according to a complaint to be filed today with the Federal Communications Commission.

The filing charges that KSCI-TV is violating federal communications rules by failing to inform viewers that the Korean-language broadcasts are sponsored by the South Korean government. The complaint also contends that KSCI knowingly concealed the South Korean government’s involvement in the production and provision of KSCI programs.

Spokesmen for the South Korean government and the company producing the broadcasts denied any government control of Korean-language broadcasting on KSCI.

Korean-Americans File Complaint

The complaint is being filed by the Korean-American Free Press Committee, a group of Korean-Americans living in Los Angeles, through the Media Access Project, a public interest telecommunications law firm here.

KSCI (Channel 18) is an independent television station owned by KSCI Inc., a for-profit company. The station sells blocks of time for programs in 13 different languages. Its program schedule includes about 12 hours a week of Korean-language news and programming.

In a copy of the filing obtained by The Times, the two groups contend that since April, 1983, KSCI has received most of its Korean-language news broadcasts from Korean Television Enterprises, a corporation based in Los Angeles.

The complaint alleges that Korean Television is actually a subsidiary of the Korean Broadcasting System, which is owned and controlled by the South Korean government.

Korean Television is “an entity KSCI knows to be entirely owned and controlled by an agency of the government of the Republic of Korea,” the complaint charges.

Chan Yong Lee, Los Angeles director of Korean Cultural Service, the information and cultural branch of the South Korean Consulate, said he could “categorically deny” that the South Korean government controls Korean-language broadcasting on KSCI.

Lee said Korean Television Enterprises is independent and receives no subsidy. There is “no control by the government,” he said.

Lee said the station shows some films that come from the Korean Broadcasting System, and he compared that company’s structure to the structures at highly respected quasi-governmental stations, such as the British Broadcasting Corp. and Japan’s national broadcasting company.

Henry Paik, a Korean Television spokesman, said there is no South Korean government ownership, control or subsidy of the station.

“I don’t think we’re in violation of anything,” said Thomas Headley, president and general manager of KSCI. He said the station sells blocks of time to various ethnic groups that arrange their programs and sponsors.

Programs Are Monitored

Headley said that KSCI monitors the programs and that “as long as they don’t violate the FCC rules, they have quite a broad scope with their own news and programming.”

In their complaint to the FCC, the group also alleged that “KSCI has apparently conspired with Korean Television to conceal the South Korean government’s involvement in the production and provision of this programming.”

Included with the FCC filing is a copy of a proposed agreement between KSCI and the Korean producers dated March 31, 1983, stating that the presence and involvement of the Korean Broadcasting System “will appear to be minimal to the general public in order to avoid the impression of foreign intervention in local U.S. broadcasting.”

Free Press Urged

Shin-Bom Lee of the Center for Developmental Policy here, which is affiliated with the Korean-American Free Press Committee, said in an interview, “The Korean community needs a free press and not a dictatorship-controlled media.”

In its complaint, the group also contended that programs supplied by Korean Television to KSCI exclude news events that do not portray the South Korean government in a favorable light.

About 300,000 Korean-Americans live in the Los Angeles area, more than any place else in the nation.

Julian Lee, coordinator of Asian American Studies at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, said the Korean-language programs on KSCI constitute “a very valuable service in providing local coverage and highlights from the homeland” for Korean immigrant viewers.

Soap Operas, Festivals

Most of the air time is devoted to such shows as Korean soap operas and song festivals, he said.

“For many of these people, especially older people . . . this is their main source of entertainment,” he added.

Tong Soo Chung, a community leader who is president of the Korean-American Coalition in Los Angeles, said people often watch “out of nostalgia.”

“It’s also a way to reach out to a lot of Korean people,” Chung said. “I appeared once in the middle of a voter-registration drive, and we had the greatest number of people registering to vote the next day.”

In addition to urging that KSCI be required to identify the South Korean government’s program sponsorship, the group is asking the FCC to review the station’s license. The group plans to send a letter today to the Justice Department requesting an investigation into whether KSCI violated the Federal Agent Registration Act by “knowingly relinquishing control to an agent of the foreign government.”

Pagano reported from Washington. Holley reported from Los Angeles.