The Kings Indian Defense

There is a video on youtube from a video series being done on chess openings in which the commentator several times refers to the King's Indian Defense as passive. I do not play the King's Indian very often, but I have played against it several times and I have found it to be quite the opposite of passive. Considering a defense 'passive' because several moves are made without a pawn or piece reaching past the second player's 3rd rank seems a bit superficial to me.