The mother of the late Oh Yoanna, who passed away last year due to workplace bullying, has reached an agreement with MBC and ended her hunger strike after 27 days.
According to the agreement, MBC and the family will hold a public press conference at MBC Sangam HQ on the morning of the 15th. During the event, MBC is expected to officially issue a public apology to the late Oh Yoanna, promise measures and improvements to prevent the same case from happening again, and award the late Oh Yoanna an honorary employee certificate.
MBC will also establish a memorial space for the late Oh Yoanna within the HQ until 15 September 2026. Additionally, the existing weather caster position will be removed and replaced with a regular full-time employee called 'weather and climate expert.' Compensation for the late Oh Yoanna's family will be determined in a separate agreement.
The late Oh Yoanna passed away on 14 September 2024, but the news of her tragic death was only revealed 3 months later. The 17-page suicide note was found on her phone, containing details of her suffering from workplace harassment.
After the incident became public, the Ministry of Employment and Labor launched a special labor inspection into MBC. As a result, MBC terminated the contract of one perpetrator identified as 'A' and decided to renew contracts with the remaining three.
In addition to the government's inspection, MBC also formed an independent fact-finding committee led by an external chairperson. However, after the official inspection results were released, MBC announced that they would not publish their own committee's findings.
The mother of the late Oh Yoanna begin her hunger strike on 8 September, just before the first anniversary of her daughter's passing. She held a press conference in front of the new MBC building in Sangam-dong, Seoul, with 44 organizations including broadcast and media unions. In the press conference, she demanded a public apology and concrete measures to prevent similar tragedies.
During the strike, MBC announced that they would abolish the freelance weather caster in honor of the late Oh Yoanna's 1st death anniversary. However, the late Oh Yoanna's family and supporting groups argue that the new system will allow the company to fire weather casters of they fail the open recruitment exam.
The late Oh Yoanna's family stated, "The mother went on a hunger strike to demand MBC to give all current freelance weather casters secure, full-time employments to prevent another tragedy like her daughter's. However, the outcome seemed to put her daughter's colleagues' jobs at risk."
After 27 days of hunger strike, the mother of the late Oh Yoanna finally reached an agreement with MBC and ended her hunger strike.
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