NEW YORK � A settle has been reached between WPIX-TV’s local news(WB 11) and a Korean couple regarding a news report that that aired over a year ago on boshin-tang, the Korean stew often prepared with dog meat.
In November 2001, reported Polly Kreisman set up a hidden camera on a farm owned by Ju Ho Kim and his wife, Roslyn, in Wurtsboro, N.Y. The piece captured Ju Ho blowtorching fur off a dog-like carcass, and then selling meat to an investigator with the Humane Society. When confronted with the hidden camera footage, the Kims tried to explain in their broken English that the animal was coyote, which is legal to sell.
Bombarded with complaints about the news report’s representation of the KA community, WB 11 aired a follow-up piece the following month that featured Councilman John Liu saying the use of dogs for food “is not typical. … Don’t blame an entire community for these despicable practices.”
The Kims filed a civil lawsuit against WPIX-TV and Kreisman, saying that the story hurt their business.
WB 11 has since apologized if viewers drew unintended inferences from the report, but still stands behind the story, saying the piece never specified that the Kims sold dog meats to customers. The lawsuit has been dropped, and a joint statement from the Kims, Kreisman and WB 11 said, “WB 11 and Ms. Kreisman have assured the Kims that it was not their intention to accuse them of selling domesticated dogs for food.”
No details on the settlement were released.
