News      |      Events

KBS serious on public safety

Kill This Love, the hit music video by the South Korean girl band BLACKPINK took the world by storm last year, yet it was banned from airing on South Korean television because some of the video images break the country’s seat belt law.

For KBS, South Korea’s national broadcasting system, it does not matter if this highly popular band is strengthening South Korea’s stature in the international music scene, nor if the ban would upset BLACKPINK’s fans.

The music video may be an international hit, but it depicts a singer driving without a safety belt which breaks the traffic law in South Korea. It is then deemed not fit for public broadcasting for fear of encouraging similar violations — and more road deaths.

The Kill This Love music video ban reflects the South Korean government’s strict seat belt policy as well as its resolve to use social monitoring measures to induce public cooperation.