MBC's drama When the Phone Rings faced criticism for its portrayal of sign language, prompting an apology from the production team.

The show's debut, which aired on November 22, featured a scene that viewers found to be very objectionable.

In the particular episode, actress Chae Soo Bin, who plays Hee Jo, was sign interpreting a "landslide." Instead, it used sign language to indicate "mountain" over and over again due to a transmission mistake.

Also, Na Yu-ri, played by Jang Gyu-ri, an anchor on the Showboat sign language, interpreted the mountain to Hong Hee-Joo as a swear finger, which was mistakenly perceived as an inappropriate gesture.

On November 29, the production team released a statement regarding the backlash, saying they heard the viewers.

"We apologize for causing concern with some of the sign language scenes. We take seriously the criticism that we inappropriately handled sign language and trivialized the deaf and Korean sign language."

The production team said they were committed to better representing sign language for the rest of the series and asked for the audience to keep sharing feedback with them to prevent further errors going forward.

"We had absolutely no intention of trivializing or mocking sign language. However, we humbly admit that our efforts to examine and reflect the difficulties experienced by the deaf and Korean sign language were insufficient."