“PRODUCE 101” Producer’s Pedophilic Interview Resurfaces Amid Massive Backlash Over “UNDER FIFTEEN”
When MBN‘s upcoming K-Pop survival program UNDER FIFTEEN was first announced, questions were raised. But now that its premiere is set for March 31, 2025 (KST), the backlash against the show has grown much fiercer. Given the recent scandal involving actor Kim Soo Hyun and his inappropriate relationship with the late actress Kim Sae Ron when she was a minor, viewers from Korea and around the world are voicing concern and demanding the “pedophilic show” be canceled.
Amid the backlash, a 2016 interview from another South Korean producer has resurfaced and completely horrified viewers. A viral tweet about UNDER FIFTEEN led to a discussion about the troubled Korean entertainment business, plagued with producers and programs exploiting minors.
15살 이하 ㅋㅋ 모아서 데뷔시킨다 따위의 뇌가리 빠진 기획이 나오기 이전에 교복 의상 입고 픽미픽미업을 부르던 프듀 및 수많은 유사 포맷 방송이 있었고 그것도 제정신 박힌 사람들 눈에는 충분히 돌아버린 기획이었다
— 누구개 (@whoozdog) March 13, 2025
Way before brainless ideas like ‘Let’s gather kids under 15 and debut them,’ we already had PRODUCE 101 and a gazillion other shows with the same format, where contestants wore school uniforms and sang ‘Pick me! Pick me!’ And even back then, to anyone with a sane mind, those were already completely insane concepts.
— @whoozdog/X
The discussion led to the unveiling of Han Dong Chul, the “founding father” figure of K-Pop audition/survival TV shows, who started working as a producer at Mnet in 1998. Over the next two decades with the entertainment channel, he created Korea’s most popular competitions like Show Me The Money, Unpretty Rapstar, SIXTEEN (discovering TWICE), and the first season of PRODUCE 101 (discovering I.O.I).
Right around when PRODUCE 101 announced its second season to discover new members for a boy group, Han was interviewed by HIGH CUT fashion magazine. In response to a question about how he plans on attracting viewers for the boy group version, he commented that “If a program is well-structured and solid, people will watch regardless of gender.”
He went on to explain that he started the PRODUCE 101 series with girl group members because he wanted to make “healthy porn for men.”
Basically, if a program is well-structured and solid, people will watch it regardless of gender. It’s a matter of quality. As for why I started with the female version first… I’m not quite sure how to put this, but I thought, ‘I want to create healthy porn for men.’ (Laughs) Like, take a look at the contestants. They’re like younger sisters or nieces, and they’re cute, right? I wanted to make that kind of porn for the male viewers.
So, the male version, on the other hand, is about making porn for women. In the past, RAIN’s performances were like pornographic content for women. The male version of PRODUCE 101 is about fulfilling that kind of fantasy. And if it’s entertaining enough, then men will watch it too. I actually think the male version will be even more competitive and explosive, making it much more fun.
— Han Dong Chul
In 2017, Han Dong Chul quit Mnet and was signed by YG Entertainment to produce MIXNINE. By 2021, the producer was working for MBK Entertainment (now POCKETDOL STUDIO) running his own subsidiary, PHUNKY STUDIO, creating My Teenage Girl.
Han Dong Chul’s most recent production was the 2023 Fantasy Boys (the male version of My Teenage Girl).
As expected, the resurfaced interview has triggered some intense reactions online.
- “And to think he was NOT talking about an R-rated show, meant to be sexual… How can the words younger sister, niece, and porn exist in the same sentence??? Like, what does that tell you about the way this man looked at his younger sisters and nieces?
- “Ew, what the f*ck? How is this man going to use healthy, porn, younger sister, and niece all in one sentence?”
- “??? Omg. Just off yourselves, please.”
- “What the f*ck… That’s what we define to be pedophilic. Healthy porn? Shut the f*ck up.”
- “This is insane… He literally said that out loud, word per word, and is STILL WORKING IN THE INDUSTRY?”
- “So no one thought that was a problem? Korea has problems.”
- “What a piece of sh*t.”
- “He’s crazy.”
