This article examines several Korean and Zainichi Korean directors linked to NHK and major Japanese broadcasters, including Lee Norihiko, Gen Masayuki, Jeon Yongseung, and Park Motoyoung.
It highlights Park’s arrest for child prostitution, NHK’s continued use of Korean directors, and the career of second-generation Zainichi director Gen Masayuki.
The article also discusses identity issues such as Korean legal names on passports and questions surrounding the influence of foreign-born media personnel in Japanese broadcasting.

The Korean name on Gen’s passport also surprised him.
Even when living in Japan, one does not become “Japanese.”

When I searched for information about a female director named “宣” who was involved in NHK’s international reporting, the following article appeared.
April 17, 2013
“Four Zainichi Koreans promoted to executive positions at NHK—Lee Norihiko, Gen Masayuki, Jeon Yongseung, Park Motosumoto?”
June 5, 2019

When I searched further about the Korean director Jeon Yongseung, whom a reader informed me about, the following information appeared.
On the internet, there were claims that “Four Zainichi Koreans—Lee Norihiko, Gen Masayuki, Jeon Yongseung, Park Motoyoung—were promoted to executive positions at NHK.”
Although I could not confirm whether these four were actually promoted to executive positions, I did confirm that some had previously worked at NHK (Park), and others had been directors of NHK programs (Lee, Gen, Jeon).
It became clear that NHK frequently uses Korean or Zainichi Korean directors.

However, at least one of them, Park Motoyoung, while seconded from NHK to its subsidiary NHK Educational, was arrested by the Metropolitan Police for child prostitution, received a summary order of a 500,000-yen fine from the Tokyo Summary Court, and was dismissed on June 26, 2007.
Therefore, he “should not” be presently employed by NHK.
If he were, it would mean reinstating a sex offender, which would be a major scandal.

NHK Subsidiary Employee Dismissed for Child Prostitution
June 20, 2007 – Mainichi Shimbun Tokyo Morning Edition
NHK announced on the 19th that it would dismiss Park Motoyoung, a chief producer of the subsidiary NHK Educational’s language division—seconded from NHK—on June 26.
He had received a summary order of a 500,000-yen fine on the 11th and admitted his crime to NHK investigators.
On May 31, he was arrested by the Metropolitan Police for paying 40,000 yen to a first-year high school girl for obscene acts.

Next is Jeon Yongseung, a Korean director from Seoul.
He had also been a director at TV Asahi, but at NHK he worked on ETV’s “Japan and the Korean Peninsula 2000 Years”, part of the “Project JAPAN” series.
Why NHK selected a Korean director for such a program was questioned even at the time.
It was said that he had been in Japan for only eight years when the program aired.

ETV Special “Japan and the Korean Peninsula 2000 Years”
Has NHK been taken over by Koreans?

Korean and North Korean media penetration into Japan.

Next, Lee Norihiko reportedly directed NHK’s program “Reviving the Bonds Across the Strait: 400 Years of Joseon Tongsinsa.”

The final person, Gen Masayuki, is a second-generation Zainichi Korean.
His profile states: “Born in Tokyo in 1958. His parents are from Jeju Island, South Korea.”
He seems to belong to Tokyo Video Center and other production companies, so he is likely not NHK staff but an external contractor.

◆ Profile ◆
Born in Tokyo in 1958.
His parents were from Jeju Island, Korea.
His father repeatedly told the youngest child, Gen, “Do what you want to do.”
The father died of cancer when Gen was in his second year of high school.
Dreaming of becoming a writer, Gen left home and continued studying while working part-time, supported quietly by his mother.
He studied at Waseda University’s Second Literature Department and joined the production company Telecom Japan in 1984.
For Gen, who preferred printed media, television was an unknown world.
At that moment, he recalled an image: his illiterate mother crying while watching television.
“She can’t read or write, but she can watch TV.”
“I want to create things that make my mother cry.”
This became the foundation of his work as a documentary filmmaker.

As his work gained recognition, he faced remarks such as “You can film this because you’re Zainichi,” which angered him.
“I want to film human beings as a human being,” he insisted, aiming for the highest level, and became a freelancer in 1990.
His work “Taiwan Manyoshu — As Long as Life Lasts, I Will Continue to Recite” earned multiple awards and became his first piece he could truly call his own.
In 1996 he became chief director at Creative Nexus and continued producing acclaimed documentaries.
In his twentieth year, he returned to freelancing and went to Korea to work on “Shout of Asia,” his first theatrically released work.

◆ Selected Works ◆
1988 “The Phantom Tokyo Olympics” (TV Asahi) – Galaxy Grand Prize
1995 “Taiwan Manyoshu” (NHK) – Multiple awards
1996 “Home of the Heart — A Special Nursing Home for Zainichi Koreans” (Fuji TV)
1997 “Facing the Giant Whale — Indonesia’s Lamafa” (Kansai TV) – Multiple awards
1998 “The Poem of the Gods: Arirang” (TBS)
1999 “The Phantom Whale Narwhal” (Kansai TV) – Multiple awards
2003 “Songs of Asia” (BS Fuji)
2005 “Shout of Asia” (Theatrical release)
2005 “Ningen Document — Mother is the Rival: Shogi Player Fujisawa Hideyuki and His Wife Moto” (NHK) – Grand Prix
2005 “And I Was Born and Raised in Japan — 100 Years of a Zainichi Korean Family” (NHK)

NHK HV Special “New Foreign Residents in Japan”

Gen’s parents were first-generation Zainichi Koreans.
They came to “Japan” not by their own will — this itself is already a lie, and the rest should be obvious.
Gen received his education in Japanese at elementary, junior high, high school, and university.
His nationality is “South Korean,” and his passport also bears his Korean legal name.
However, he cannot speak Korean.
His junior colleague Jeon Yongseung, a Korean national working in Japan’s film industry, found it more interesting to work abroad even if difficult.
At first, Jeon did not know how to interact with Zainichi Koreans, and he was surprised by the Korean name written in Gen’s passport.
Even when living in Japan, one does not become “Japanese.”
http://www.tvc-net.com/shas/director.html