Analysis of Kim Ji-woong swearing allegations

Analysis of the Kim Ji-woong Swearing Allegations”

ZEROBASEONE‘s Kim Ji-woong was engulfed in swearing allegations. It’s about swearing during a video call with fans. He emphasized that it wasn’t true. There are people who heard the swearing, but the person who said it is unknown.

WakeOne stated, “We will go through confirmation procedures such as digital media forensic analysis. We will clearly determine the truth.” However, the controversy did not subside.

Fan K, who uploaded the video, appealed, “Even though there is clear video evidence, why only verbally deny it officially? It’s unfair and upsetting.” The battle over the truth continued.

What is needed now is objective analysis. Dispatch obtained an audio analysis opinion from the Korea Institute of Science and Technology Evaluation regarding Kim Ji-woong.

**# What was said (pronunciation analysis)**

The event is an event where 30 random purchasers of ‘Zero Base One’ albums have video calls. It took place at the ‘Wake One’ office on the 27th of last month. Each member had a video call with about 1 minute and 30 seconds per fan.

There are two pieces of evidence. First, the video K uploaded to SNS. The file size is 95.6MB, and it’s 3 seconds long. This section was divided into three sections: A (F1~F5), B (F6~F8), and C (F9~F12).

Second is the CCTV. It is a video recording of the situation at the event. We examined whether Kim Ji-woong’s mouth movements in the CCTV matched the voice in the fan video.

Pronunciation was analyzed using formants. Formants refer to the resonance frequencies generated in the vocal tract. It is a method of analyzing vocal traces by analyzing human sounds by frequency.

The pronunciation analysis results showed that A segment was identified as ‘Thank you,’ B segment was ‘voiceless sound + X-foul,’ and C segment was ‘this or number + uncomfortable.’

**# Who said it (speaker analysis)**

Then, who said it? K presumed it was Kim Ji-woong. When the video was analyzed, Kim Ji-woong matched the A segment. However, the problem with the B segment was that the screen was covered (presumably by a phone cover or staff’s hand).

Based on the frequency (pitch) of each segment, the expert analyzed the speaker. They divided the vocal tract into ranges from low to high frequencies to examine the areas of the vocal tract.

First, the A segment. The doctor judged, “It is presumed to be a voice recording situation of the same person. (Kim Ji-woong’s) mouth movements and formant voice production of the A segment are combined.”

The key is the B segment. We need to look at the frequency between the low-frequency range (1957Hz) and ε and α. It appears to be a similar vocal tract. In other words, it means the voice of one person.

However, it cannot be conclusively determined as Kim Ji-woong’s voice. The expert said, “It is impossible to confirm the person (Kim Ji-woong) speaking in the fan video” and “It is difficult to determine the speaker of the B segment.”

The same result applies to the C segment.

**# Is it Kim Ji-woong (tampering analysis)**

What if we connect the segments? We expanded the waveform of the A-B segment. There was no distortion in the pitch and height of the A-B ‘connected part.’ It means it was continuously recorded.

However, different values ​​were obtained in the ‘frequency response waveform.’ The pitch and height were different at that time. The expert judged, “The A-B segment voice appears to be different voices of different speakers.”

The B-C segment was also recorded continuously. However, this time, the frequency response waveform was different. The pitch and height were not the same.

The analyst saw the A-B, B-C segments as ‘different speakers, different voices.’ They said, “The pronunciation of the B segment is relatively clearly discernible compared to the A and C segments. Through vocal tract analysis, it is judged that the B segment was intentionally recorded with the pronunciation of ‘X-foul’ without pitch processing to maximize the listener’s concentration.”

The expert analyzed, “Based on the shaking of the fan video and the movement of the photographed subject (person, phone, etc.), it appears to have been taken with another device” and concluded that the B segment was recorded by a voice inserted from the outside.

**# Situation of that day (interview with on-site staff)**

The CCTV footage and the CCTV footage containing the situation on the day were compared on the same timeline. However, it was difficult to determine Kim Ji-woong’s mouth movements because they were obscured by the head of the member next to him.

‘Dispatch’ also interviewed staff D who was present at the scene. One staff member was assigned to each artist. D was in charge of Kim Ji-woong. He is an employee of a record company.

Kim Ji-woong was seated fourth from the right among nine members. D sat right in front of Kim Ji-woong. The two were simultaneously connected to earphones. They listened to the call content together in real-time. (It was a precautionary measure in case of emergency situations such as providing interpreter staff)

He said, “I don’t remember the content of the call with K accurately,” but emphasized, “But I can definitely say that Kim Ji-woong did not swear. I didn’t hear anything.”

In particular, the members were close together. When one member finished the call, they passed the phone to the next member. Even after Kim Ji-woong finished the call, the member next to him continued the call.

He said, “Another artist was continuing video calls from the side,” adding, “It wasn’t a situation where swearing was possible. There was no reason to, and I didn’t hear anything.”

**# Summary of final emotional results**

① The discerned voices are A (thank you), B (voiceless sound + X-foul), C (this or number + uncomfortable).

② The fan video emphasized the pronunciation of ‘X-foul’ in the A segment voice during production. It is judged that the C segment was also processed for pitch.

③ The pitch and height discriminated from the frequency response waveform were different in the A-B and B-C segments. In other words, the speaker and voice were different.

④ The A-B-C segments were recorded continuously. Considering the fan video shooting conditions, there is a possibility that ‘X-foul’ was recorded externally.

⑤ The CCTV confirmation result showed no peculiarities in Kim Ji-woong’s mouth movements. The fan video cannot exclude the possibility of mixed surrounding voices. Therefore, it cannot be determined whether ‘X-foul’ was said by Kim Ji-woong.

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