On January 24, KBS1 released an official statement regarding the stunt incident that led to the death of a horse. On this day, KBS stated, "We change into the KBS that keeps the fundamentals of respecting life."

The broadcast company continued to say, "Recently, an unfortunate accident occurred during the filming of the drama 'The King of Tears, Lee Bang Won.' KBS is deeply aware of its responsibility for not protecting the life of an animal involved in the filming of the drama, and once again, we deeply apologize to the viewers and the public."

KBS continued to state, "There should be no scene in which the life of an animal must be threatened. KBS considers this accident to be a disaster caused by a lack of awareness about bioethics and animal welfare. We will prepare regulations related to the safety and welfare of animals during the filming and production so that such accident does not happen again."

Lastly, KBS concluded by saying, "We will not only conduct our own investigations but diligently engage in the investigations of external agencies to understand the exact circumstances of this accident. We will take this incident as a lesson and will do our best to inspect and improve the overall production site so that no other unpleasant incidents occur again during the filming and production. With this, we will strive to become a trusted public media company again."

Earlier, KBS1 was under fire as the stunt scene in which a horse was tied to a wire and forced to fall had died due to complications from the accident. The stunt scene that was released by the Korean Animal Welfare Association (KAWA) shocked the public as they saw the horse fly mid-air and fall on its neck after being tugged on a wire while running.

After the KAWA took issue with the stunt scene and asked for details about the horse's safety, KBS revealed that the horse died due to complications from the accident.