A stage scene from ‘Star Is Born’ (STAR IS BORN), released under a new title after the domestic scheduling of ‘Under Fifteen’ was canceled. Broadcast screen capture

The audition program ‘Under Fifteen’ (UNDER15), whose domestic broadcast slot was canceled last year amid controversy over the sexual commodification of children, has been released on a paid YouTube membership channel.

It was confirmed on the 13th that on the 11th, Crea Studio, the producer of ‘Under Fifteen’, posted the full eight episodes of ‘Star Is Born’ (STAR IS BORN) on its ‘Trot King’ channel.

However, the videos are accessible only to members of that channel, and under its system, only viewers at the ‘Sprout’ tier can watch.

‘Under Fifteen’ is a K-pop idol audition targeting girls aged 15 or under. As soon as its teaser and poster were released last year, it drew criticism for encouraging the sexual commodification of children, citing makeup and short outfits on underage contestants, as well as barcodes and birth-year markings on the poster.

After 129 civil society groups called for the broadcast to be halted, MBN ultimately canceled the scheduling of ‘Under Fifteen’ in March last year.

Afterward, Crea Studio changed only the title to ‘Star Is Born’ and sought to air it in Japan on KBS Japan in August last year, but as criticism mounted that this was an overseas workaround, KBS Japan also ultimately canceled the program.

Blocked in both Korea and Japan, the program then turned to Southeast Asia. ‘Star Is Born’ premiered last November on TrueVisions, the largest cable channel in Thailand. Some parents of participants protested the Thai broadcast, stating they did “not consent”.

Given that a program embroiled in a child sexualization controversy has been made available on a YouTube channel outside the broadcast review system, it appears unlikely to avoid criticism as a ‘bypass release’.

In particular, the fact that the videos have been released in a form visible only to membership subscribers paying at least 2,990 won per month is also expected to come under fire. Content that sparked a child sexualization controversy has been reissued as a paid product. This also conflicts with the rationale the production team put forward at the time of the cancellation, namely ‘protecting participants and making improvements’.

Attorney Noh Jong-eon (Law Firm Jonjae) said, “Circumventing distribution of content that was found problematic under domestic and overseas broadcast review systems through the regulatory blind spot of YouTube paid memberships is a workaround that can render the purpose of the review regime meaningless”.

He added, “Repackaging content featuring minors that became the subject of a sexual commodification controversy as a commercial product calls into question the sincerity of the initially stated rationale of ‘protecting participants’,” and “There is an urgent need for stricter social oversight and supplementary institutional regulation regarding infringements of minors’ rights and acts of commercial exploitation on new media platforms that make the framework of the Broadcasting Act meaningless”.