Angry protesters throw eggs at a picture of Lim
In the past week, President Lee Myung Bak has decried the lack of patriotism inherent in those perceived as being North Korean sympathisers, while others have suggested an atmosphere of neo-MacCarthyism is becoming prevalent in Korean politics. And to a make matters worse, Democratic United Party member Representative Lim Su-kyung has hit the headlines once again this week (after having called a North Korean defector a “bastard betrayer”) as New Daily reports on a series of pro-North Korean tweets she made in January this year.
The article, which attracted thousands of netizen comments, suggests that despite having been a celebrated activist known as the “Flower of Unification”, and despite her political affiliations, Lim is in fact a strong supporter of the North Korean regime. The tweets in question were re-tweets of the North Korean Twitter account @uriminzok, which Lim insists she re-tweeted as a form of protest to the South Korean National Security Act. While the central remit of the act is “to restrict anti-state acts that endanger national security and to protect [the] nation’s safety and its people’s life and freedom,” many activists and critics see it as a means of perpetuating anti-Communist ideas, damaging relations with North Korea, and restricting freedom of speech. Lim herself was arrested under this act when she returned from a student conference in Pyongyang in 1989, and has since become one of its most vocal opponents.
According to Lim, the re-tweets of @uriminzok were made to raise awareness of the case of Park Jung-geun, a South Korean photographer who was controversially arrested and indicted earlier this year for himself re-posting @uriminzok tweets. However, the New Daily article makes almost no mention of this fact. Indeed, following her recent heated exchange with North Korean defector at a Jongno restaurant last week, South Korean netizens are angrily branding Lim as a communist, a spy, and a hindrance to South Korean politics. The popularity of the article below, as well as the comments that accompany it, are certainly testament to these sentiments.
From New Daily:
Shock at Lim Su-kyung Tweet: ‘I Apologise on Behalf of Lee Myung-bak’s Clique
Lim Su-kyung: South Korean assembly member? Or North Korean spokesperson?…She even mocks: ‘Did they try to arrest me?’
Was she unable to conceal her pro-North Korean instincts?
Democratic United Party representative Lim Su-kyung caused shock when it became known that she had forwarded a tweet that had been uploaded on the Twitter account of Uri minzok kkiri (@uriminzok), the North Korean anti-South propaganda organ.
Representative Lim retweeted the following from ‘uri minzok’ on her personal Twitter account on January 24:
Lee Myung-bak’s clique would be better off shutting its mouth and thinking about its own future.
It is precisely the thoughtless words of that traitor Lee Myung-bak which we cannot say are any different to the fearful cries of a man receiving a harsh notice from history that he will be put to death.
‘I am purposely retweeting this. Abolish the National Security Law!’
The offending tweets
Together with the web address of the North Korean song uploaded on YouTube by ‘Uri minzok kkiri’, ‘The person who remains in my heart’, there was also attached a headline which read ‘Outspoken Violation of National Security Law.’
However, Lim, who had been so confident, secretly deleted all the tweets that would be a problem as soon as the controversy over pro-North Korean stance happened after she became a National Assembly Member.
While she participated in the 13th World Student Youth Festival held in Pyongyang in 1989 and bowed to Kim Il Sung, now she faces criticism because of the fact that the celebrated university student Lim Su-kyung is now a representative in the South Korean National Assembly.
◆ Netizens ask, ‘Is she a North Korean spokesperson?’
The reaction of those netizens who had seen the contents of Representative Lim’s Twitter account is as follows. Many people have termed her a ‘North Korean spokesperson.’
gwpar****
Lim Su-kyung spreads the Twitter account administered by North Korea, fans the flames of the pro-North Korea controversy. Lim Su-kyung=North Korean spokesperson, firm evidence that she is pro-North Korea.
kim_h****
They fucking well made this bitch a representative, are there so few people who want to be national assembly members? A total commie has entered the South Korean National Assembly.
ccnk****
Lim Su-kyung entered South Korea illegally as a representative of the Nationwide Student Representative League during the World Student Youth Festival held in Pyongyang in June 1989 and as an ex-con who served time under the National Security Law, she is a linchpin of pro-North Korean influence.
Junghoon****
Lim Su-kyung cannot abandon her ideological past in which she had blindly followed the North Korean system. Given that [what she said is] consistent with the expression of North Korean authorities that were being criticised by a defector, it is difficult to see the ‘traitor cursing’ as a simple mistake.
kkj****
Father Park Hong: ‘You’re telling me that Lim Su Kyung has become a representative at the National Assembly? Has the quality of the National Assembly representatives fallen this low? In the name of progress, communists have joined us. We ignore the identity of South Korea. We do not sing the national anthem. We cannot even protect our own citizens.
Furthermore, on June 3 North Korean defector, university student Paek Yo-sep (28), made public on his Facebook page the abusive words that representative Lim Su Kyung had said to him on June 1 at a restaurant in Jongno, Seoul.
At the time, though his own political beliefs were different, Paek asked to take a photograph with Representative Lim Su-kyung who he had known as ‘the flower of unification’ since he had been in North Korea as a child. However the photographs were soon deleted by a waiter.
At this, Paek made a North Korean-style joke to Representative Lim, saying, ‘You know what would happen on an occasion like this in North Korea, don’t you? It’d definitely be the firing squad. Where do you do as you please without the leader having commanded it?’
However, Lim showered him with insults: ‘You bastard, is some stupid bastard defector trying to get smart with a member of the South Korean National Assembly?’
It is known that she went on cursing: ‘When you come to South Korea, shut your mouth and live quietly, you fucking traitor.’ ‘I’d kill that fucking traitor Ha Tae-kyung with my own hands.’
Comments from Nate:
신에스더:
I’d assumed that spy stories were ancient history. But now that I’m 22, I can’t contain my surprise that sightings of real spies floating the water have been confirmed. What the hell is is nation coming to? Supporters of North Korea, a country that is our enemy. They have spies standing in the National Assembly, and this kind of person can just swagger around South Korea? Young generation! Our generation must wake up! We can no longer be deceived like idiots by the people who trick us. We must rise up and protect our nation!!!!!!!!!
이치훈:
Lee Myung-bak‘s clique? Both you and the Democratic Party are finished. Do you know why you have to have public nominations? Indeed, it’s because the candidates who you point out will be those that who will take your side. Accordingly, the Democratic Party has become a group of fucking commie to it’s very core . Let’s see what happens in the presidential election.
이한용:
Everyone, you all know why the Saenuri Party exceed more than half of the National Assembly members and take up 2/3 of the seats? It’s because the other parties are helpless and they can truly be expelled [from the assembly]. Let’s all do our best to vote, fellow citizens.
윤규태:
Without questioning why, they vote Saenuri Party in the presidential election and the by-elections.
이자영:
Fuck off back to North Korea.
문한재:
Blatantly a spy ^^
김세종:
Twitter as a source ke ke ke ke ke ‘Uriminjok kkiri’ ke ke This is not a pro-North Korean tweet, it’s a tweet from an actual North Korean site! Example of a real commie ke ke ke ke ke ke ke ke ke
김연호:
Some guy was quibbling over why a tweet from January is being brought up now, but I mean, from before the general election the Democratic Party were putting forward pro-North Korean twats as candidates. Don’t you know what that means? ke ke ke ke ke ke ke ke ke ke ke ke ke ke ke
최재영:
Honestly, no word of a lie, Korea is like this because of Kim Dae-jung and Roh Moo-hyun. Someone is busy insulting the president of Korea by calling him a twat, and being brainwashed by pro-North Korean influence, which follows North Korea. As the state gets more pro-North Korean, they just leave it be. Let’s come to our senses!! Criticising the president is fine, but let’s not be insulting him with no reason like the fucking northern puppet regime does, and let’s not buy into those ridiculous ideas. Young friends, come to your senses!
조현호:
If she’s gone so far as to do something like this, then the Democratic United Party, in not requesting the resignation of a representative who is a defector, must also be pro-North Korea.
이승철:
Wow, seriously…it’d be good if they put her to the firing squad. In a country at armistice, they’d even say this to the president who is supreme commander of the armed forces? ke ke Try saying it..
서정우:
The commie are here for sure! ke ke ke ke ke *trembles*
김아름:
Wow, I’m really lost for words. A product of the era. Had she been born a little bit earlier, the bitch would have gone through without anyone batting an eyelid. Wow, totally, that bitch is 100% ㅡㅡI really hate the word commie with all my heart, but that bitch is 100% commie.
오성민:
Democratic party….you were aware of your sins.
황용운:
President Park Chung-hee, I miss you…
이동희:
I don’t know the reason why I have to give my wages to those bastards who can’t be loyal for the sake of their country.
이빈:
A while ago some university students were scattering flyers in Jongno criticizing Lee Myung-bak’s North Korea policy. But an elder saw this, and said calmly to the student who was handing out the flyers that the content was not appropriate. The student yelled at the elder, saying… Student: Lee Myung Bak is being a dictator, isn’t that wrong~ !! Elder: Isn’t the dictatorship of Kim Jong Il and Kim Jong Un in North Korea wrong? Student: The dictators Park Chung-hee and Lee Myung-bak are also just as bad Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Un~!! At any rate, they’re wrong!!!!
I was lost for words at this…..
김민회:
It’s because of a bitch like this that we need the National Security Act. Damn..That’s one bitch there is no answer for. You have no right to live in South Korea. Just fuck off. And never set foot in South Korea for the rest of eternity.
신현수:
Fuck, you couldn’t do this kind of thing under Chun Doo-hwan or Park Chung-hee…Damn, pissed off from the start of the day~~
