[Anchor]
Fines have been issued to Namyang Dairy's former CEO and current executives and employees who promoted 'Bulgaris' as if it was effective in preventing COVID-19.
The court said that the crime was committed when the entire nation was concerned about COVID-19 due to the flood of confirmed cases, and pointed out that the crime was not good.
Reporter Kwon Junsu reports.
[Reporter]
In April 2021, Namyang Dairy announced that the fermented milk product Vulgaris has a COVID-preventing effect at an academic debate.
When Bulgarian fermented milk was injected into the virus, the virus decreased by 78%.
Sales have soared since then, but the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said it is difficult to predict actual effects, not human studies.
As controversy grew over the boycott of 'false advertisements', then-Chairman Hong Won-sik apologized to the public and stepped down,
[Hong Won-sik / Former Namyang Dairy's Chairman (May 2021): I will step down as Namyang Dairy's Chairman to take responsibility for all this.]
The complaint from the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety eventually put it on trial.
[Park Dong-hee / Director of Food Labeling and Advertising Policy (April 2021): (In particular) The symposium was held for the purpose of promoting products rather than purely academic purposes..]
Namyang Dairy's former CEO and others denied the charges, saying they just held an academic debate, but the court's judgment was different.
They believed that it was advertised through a number of media companies in a way that made the article reported as intended.
He also pointed out that the situation after the crime is not good, such as blaming the media for not verifying the effect even though the media company used it to report the effect.
At the same time, the former CEO Lee and the former head of the antiviral immunization research center Park were fined 20 million won, and the Namyang Dairy Corporation was fined 50 million won.
Above all, the court judged that the guilt of advertising unverified effects was serious at a time when the entire nation was under threat to their bodies due to COVID-19.
Namyang Dairy Co., Ltd. has since undergone a management dispute and has continued litigation between former and current management.
I'm YTN Kwon Junsu.
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