Cho Kuk, Wony of Lesnne mentions "Minister Kim," saying "We must correct the unjust misunderstanding of Ilbe... '5.23' is questionable"

*This content was translated by AI.

Former Rebuilding Korea Party Chairman Cho Kuk addressed the controversy surrounding Ilbe and the SBS drama "Minister Kim."

Cho Jeon (CEO) expressed his views via social media on the 6th, stating, "While the Ilbe culture of appending 'no' to question marks must be eradicated, we must correct the unjust misunderstanding of Ilbe."

This statement by Cho Jeon (CEO) stems from a controversy involving Ilbe surrounding Park Tae-jun, the creator who oversaw the original webtoon for this year's top-grossing SBS Friday-Saturday drama "Minister Kim" (script by Nam Dae-jung, directed by Lee Seung-young and Lee So-eun).

On the 3rd, YouTuber "Ge-ji-eop-da" appeared on the YouTube channel "Yeouido Yeolmunrae-dong," citing a scene from Park Tae-jun's 2015 work "Appearance-Based Society." In the scene, a character uses a stopwatch to measure "5 minutes and 23 seconds," while a store sign in the background reads "ROCK OWLING." The explanation is that "5 minutes and 23 seconds" evokes the date of the late Roh Moo-hyun Jeon (President)'s passing, May 23rd, and "ROCK OWLING" recalls the place of Roh Jeon (President)'s death, the Owl Rock.

Regarding this, "Ge-ji-eop-da" pointed out, "The character looks at a stopwatch and says '5 minutes and 23 seconds.' Roh Moo-hyun Jeon (President)'s passing date is May 23rd. Five minutes means five minutes, 5 minutes and 30 seconds means 30 seconds—what about 5 minutes and 23 seconds? Creators do not just insert such details one by one."

However, cartoon critic and Seoul Webtoon Academy Lee (President) Park In-ha explained via social media that the actual text in the scene is "HANWON ROCK BOWLING" (Hanwon Rock Bowling). Cho Jeon (CEO), sharing the critic's post, stated, "We must correct the unjust misunderstanding of Ilbe," while also expressing puzzlement over the reason for using "'5.23'."

Cho Jeon (CEO) had previously addressed the controversy surrounding Wony of Lesnne's remark "Museum-no" on the previous day, posting a message to the effect that expressions appending "no" are improper hate speech.

In response to the ongoing debate, Cho Jeon (CEO) stated, "Many people in their 10s and 20s use 'no' appended to question marks even though they are not part of Ilbe. It seems there is a cowardly argument that raising this issue amounts to condescending lecturing toward young people. I cannot agree with that at all."

He further emphasized, "We must clearly inform everyone that appending 'no' to question marks (not whether it fits Gyeongsang dialect usage or not) is an improper act of mocking and belittling the late President Roh Moo-hyun. Young people should know that appending 'no' to question marks constitutes improper hate speech and stop using it."

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*This content was translated by AI.