Amidst the controversy surrounding actress Kim Tae Ri‘s recruitment of YouTube content subtitle producers as “volunteers,” her agency has provided an explanation and an apology.
On the 22nd of May, the actress posted photos to her Instagram account sharing she’s been working on the 3rd episode of the vlog being subtitled in English, she then introduced the concept of volunteer translators but this has since been deleted following the immense backlash in the comments section.
Before the post was deleted, the official YouTube account jointly operated by Kim Tae Ri and her agency also uploaded a similar post to the community page. The post mentioned, “After reading the YouTube comments, we noticed that there are fans from various countries. We wondered if there was a way to provide subtitles in their native languages and came up with this idea. We thought, maybe there are talented individuals from different countries who would like to engage in translation, thinking, ‘I can do it quickly.’ So, we named it ‘Is This Translation Right?'”
They added, “This project is based on volunteering. If anyone is interested, please fill out the form, and our team will contact you.”
The post has also been deleted.
Some netizens criticized labeling the foreign subtitle producers as “volunteers” and not providing formal payment for what would be translated. Many mentioned the videos [reguarly 20 to 30 minutes] could take up to 6 hours or more to translate and even if the channel is not monetized, the people working on translations should still be paid.
Eventually, the agency of the actress ended up issuing an apology for the matter via Instagram in Korean and English. They wrote,
Hello, this is management mmm.
We’d like to express our official position on the “So This Is The Place?” subtitle translations.
The vlog series does not generate any revenue from advertisements or other means. We also do not equate an individual’s emotions with financial gain. Since the inception of “So This Is The Place?”, and as the work on the English subtitles continues, Tae-ri’s commitment to her fans has been the sole driving force.
The only intent behind the request for translation help was to make the vlogs more accessible to international fans. Despite our intentions, however, we acknowledge and deeply regret the unintended distress this announcement caused to numerous individuals.
We would like to emphasize that it was never our intention to take advantage of anyone in the process of making “So This Is The Place?”. When there were circumstances that required compensation, we ensured that it was provided in a fair manner.
We sincerely apologize once again for any distress our decisions may have caused.
Thank you.
Meanwhile, Kim Tae Ri is preparing for the release of her upcoming drama coming out in June on SBS.
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