Beast's song ruled not harmful to youth

K-pop boy band Beast

The lyrics of a song cannot be considered harmful to adolescents just because they are deemed to promote drinking, the court said Thursday, suspending a government decision.

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The Seoul Administrative Court ruled that a censorship arm of the Ministry of Gender and Equality and Family should revoke its decision to designate a song, titled "When It Rains", by six-member idol group Beast, as harmful to adolescents.

"We suspend the effectiveness of the ministry's decision for the next 15 days. We recognize the need to take such action in order to prevent the plaintiff from sustaining unnecessary damage", the court said.

In July, the ministry slapped the song with the "harmful to youth" rating, saying that its lyrics encourages youths to drink alcohol.

As a result, the song was banned from being played on TV and radio from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. and from 1 p.m. to 10 p.m. on weekdays. During weekends and school vacations, it was not heard from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m.

In protest, the idol group's agency Cube Entertainment filed a suit against the ministry to nullify the "harmful to youth" rating, arguing the song does not promote or beautify alcoholism. It also said Beast was discriminated against when songs by other singers are not classified as harmful to youth even though they include lyrics condoning alcohol abuse.