Amid allegations that the late MBC weathercaster Oh Yoanna was a victim of workplace bullying, her handwritten diary has been made public.
On the 31st, YTN revealed a diary entry written by Oh Yoanna on July 16 of last year. In the diary, Oh wrote, “The bullying is insane. A's tone is so violent.” She continued, “I finished the special report at 10:45. In the meantime, bullying. I'm really angry.”
The A mentioned in the late Oh's diary is reported to be a weathercaster suspected of leading the workplace bullying.
The late Oh Yoanna passed away at the age of 28 in September of last year. The news was belatedly reported on December 10 of the same year, and subsequently, the Maeil Business Newspaper reported that “a 2,750-character will consisting of 17 pages of manuscript paper was found on Oh Yoanna's phone after the password was unlocked,” stating that “the will contained complaints about workplace bullying from two specific weathercasters,” causing a stir.
According to the media, Oh Yoanna, who became a freelance weathercaster at MBC in May 2021, was bullied starting in March of the following year. A colleague weathercaster who joined earlier allegedly made a false report and pinned it on Oh, while another weathercaster reportedly criticized her for pointing out incorrect weather information, saying, “How dare a junior point out a senior's mistake.”
One of them is said to have called her to the office after working hours under the pretext of needing to teach her, or prevented her from leaving for more than an hour to an hour and a half. Additionally, when Oh Yoanna was invited to appear on tvN's “You Quiz on the Block” in 2022, messages and voice recordings criticizing her with “What can you say out there?” were also discovered.
In response to the allegations of workplace bullying against the late Oh Yoanna, MBC stated, “The deceased never reported her grievances to the relevant departments (Human Resources Team of the Management Support Department, Clean Center of the Audit Department) or to the responsible managers she worked with while working as a freelancer.”
They added, “If the deceased had officially reported her grievances (such as workplace bullying) to the company at that time, or even if she had informed responsible managers of the facts to some extent, the company would have naturally conducted a proper investigation,” and stated, “If the bereaved family requests fact-checking based on the newly discovered will, MBC is prepared to commence an investigation into the truth as soon as possible.”
The bereaved family responded to MBC's statement by saying, “We will not request fact-checking,” and expressed their hope that MBC would conduct its own investigation and broadcast a sincere apology. They also filed a civil lawsuit against the two individuals identified as the perpetrators of workplace bullying against the deceased.
[Lee Da-kyum, Star Today Reporter]
