tvN's popular program 'Yoo Quiz On The Block' recently received mixed responses following its decision to have South Korea's president-elect, Yoon Seok Yeol, appear on the show as a guest. Then, after Yoon Seok Yeol's appearance on this week's episode aired on April 21, another controversy arose, after it was reported that CJ ENM had previously rejected the outgoing president Moon Jae In's appearance on the show last year.

In response to the latest allegations, a representative of CJ ENM issued a statement of denial and claimed that production staff of 'You Quiz' never received a request from the Moon administration for an appearance on the program. 

Now, a member of president Moon Jae In's administration has stepped up to refute CJ ENM's statement of denial, accusing the corporation of "lying". 

On April 21, Tak Hyun Min, the Secretary of Protocol for the Moon Jae In administration, took to his social media account and criticized CJ ENM for lying to the media, confirming that 'You Quiz' did in fact reject president Moon Jae In's request to appear on the program last year. 

Tak Hyun Min's post included the following:

"There is no problem with president-elect Yoon Seok Yeol's appearance on 'You Quiz On The Block'. This is because although it is possible for viewers to hold different opinions, his appearance itself is something to be decided by the production crew and the cast members. However, apart from the issue of president-elect Yoon Seok Yeol's appearance, there is a serious problem with CJ ENM's lies against the Blue House.

Firstly, in April of last year and even before then, Blue House officials discussed the appearance of the president, along with other Blue House employees like the barbers, shoe repairers, and landscape officials, on the program. At that time, the production crew relayed their message of rejection through CJ's Strategic Support Team by stating the reason that '[their appearance] does not fit with the nature of our program'. We did not make any further requests because we respected the production crew's decision. We have records of phone coversations we held with the person in charge of the program, as well as text messages exchanged. Regardless, CJ is lying to the media claiming that there were never any requests made, and there is a bigger problem with this than their lie itself.

The reason why we accepted their rejection without complaining was because we respected the program. It was only obvious for this to happen, and we [responded in the way that we did] even more because of the history of our administration where even the most obvious [protocols] had not been kept. We did not want any program to be affected by external pressure, and we believe that our attitude [toward the rejection] is the correct attitude to have in consideration of the cultural arts.

Even now, I want to believe that president-elect Yoon Seok Yeol's appearance was solely a decision made by the production team. It's fine if at that time, they made the judgment that the appearance of the president and the Blue House officials did not match the nature of their program. However, we hope there was no external pressure this time as well, and that only the production team's judgment was considered, and will be considered from now on. This is the only way for broadcasters and cultural artists to protect their dignity."