'Please Take Care of My Refrigerator' cast rallies amid JTBC liquidity crisis

Amid JTBC's liquidity crisis and mounting delays in talent payments, the cast of its flagship variety show Please Take Care of My Refrigerator gathered for a team dinner, showing unbroken solidarity.

Chef Son Jong-won posted photos and video from the filming set and the dinner on his SNS account Sunday, captioning the post "Please Take Care of My Refrigerator — still open for business."

The images showed cast members Choi Hyun-seok, Yoon Nam-no, Park Eun-young, Kim Pung and Jung Ho-young gathered together.

In the dinner video, host Kim Sung-joo made a playful entrance, improvising a microphone out of a beer bottle and a spoon. When the staff and cast chanted his name, he flashed his trademark grin and quipped, "Our Please Take Care of My Refrigerator — what are we doing having a team dinner at such a grave time? People watching might worry."

The cast kept the mood light, but the business situation surrounding JTBC remains far from easy.

The Joongang Group's liquidity crisis came fully into the open on June 12, when JTBC failed to repay 20.6 billion won ($14 million) in securitized borrowings.

In the weeks that followed, major affiliates — Joongang Holdings, ContentreeJoongAng, Joongang P&I and Megabox Joongang — each filed for court receivership. The court approved rehabilitation proceedings for all four companies. JTBC itself is enrolled in an autonomous restructuring support program, and a decision on whether to open formal rehabilitation proceedings for the broadcaster has been deferred until Thursday.

Concern is also growing on production sets over potential losses for talent and crew.

The Korean Broadcasting Performers' Labor Union said in a July 7 statement that harm to performers had been spreading since JTBC filed for rehabilitation.

According to the union, payment of appearance fees for major variety programs — including Please Take Care of My Refrigerator, Knowing Bros and Divorce Mediation Camp — has been delayed, and settlement of rerun fees under neighboring rights has also been disrupted. With those payments tied up in the rehabilitation process, the union estimated total losses could run into the tens of billions of won.

In response, JTBC said there were "some delay issues" with appearance and rerun fees but that it was "processing payments in line with court procedures."

A decision on whether to open formal rehabilitation proceedings against JTBC is expected by the end of this month. Industry observers are closely watching the court's ruling and whether the company can normalize its finances, as the outcome could significantly affect both talent payments and the day-to-day operation of production sets.