The Sewol ferry accident brought about controversial political opportunism and heated arguments between netizens of conflicting political orientations. Conservative netizens have been trying to refute anti-government accusations they deem baseless and complaining that left-leaning journalists and netizens are demonizing the government and authorities in charge without concrete facts. It was in this charged atmosphere that the youngest son of Chung Mong-joon, candidate for mayor of Seoul in the upcoming election, made a controversial comment on Facebook. The particular word “uncivilized” (미개하다) in his comment is often used by conservative netizens on Ilbe and DC Inside to criticize something that does not meet their standards.
From Yonhap News:
Chung Mong-joon deeply apologetic about his son’s remark that “the public sentiment is uncivilized”
On the 21st, the Saenuri Party’s Seoul mayoral candidate lawmaker Chung Mong-joon’s son, Ye-seon (19), wrote on his Facebook page, “Isn’t the nation uncivilized because the citizens are uncivilized?” referring to the sentiment critical of President Park Geun-hye’s visit on the Sewol ferry accident area. As controversy erupted from his comment, lawmaker Chung issued a letter of apology on behalf of his son, trying to subdue the controversy.
Chung Ye-seon wrote the following comment on his Facebook.
Don’t you know that President Park Geun-hye was once almost stabbed? [An assailant cut Park’s face with a razor during her election campaigns in 2006.] She went ahead with her visit plan even though the security office suggested her not to go due to poor security conditions. And speaking of the public sentiment, unlike other countries where people behave rationally in similar situations, our people yelled and cursed at the President when she promised to do her best in person to the affected people and the Prime Minister got hit by a water bottle, ke ke ke. When the public sentiment is uncivilized, it doesn’t make sense to expect the President to be omnipotent to satisfy every citizen’s needs. Citizens constitute a nation. Isn’t the nation uncivilized because the citizens are uncivilized?
Ye-seon deleted the comment on Facebook as controversy erupted.
In response to the controversy, through his letter of apology, lawmaker Chung said, “I sincerely apologize to the affected families and our citizens. I am extremely sorry about my youngest son’s immature act. He is reflecting on his actions now. It is all my fault that I could not teach him properly. I sincerely apologize again to the affected families who might have been hurt and our citizens.”
Ye-seon is the youngest of 2 sons and 2 daughters of lawmaker Chung.
Comments from Naver:
hl30****:
Ye-seon is a good son. He wants his father to retire and live a quite, comfortable life far from the public eye.
gdfr****:
His dad’s thoughts might have influenced him…
imnt****:
This time, his son ruined his election campaign…;;
mped****:
It’s true that people are uncivilized and lowly…. Isn’t that why the lawmaker bastards who represent people are uncivilized and lowly? But why did he have to say that… He should’ve kept quiet even if he knew it’s right.
kore****:
It’s true that people are uncivilized seeing how an official took souvenir photos in front of the death list. It’s completely messed up beyond uncivilized.
mlpj****:
Just how uncivilized people must be to have elected your father for a lawmaker.
kara****:
During the Roh administration, people were blaming Roh Mu-hyun even if their neighbor’s dog died. It’s ironic that they say we should not blame Park Geun-hye for this tragedy now.
hoya****:
The good son must have hated to see his father become the mayor of Seoul and work too much.
dais****:
Sure….I understand….at such a young age….you can write something like that….I’m sorry that….people are uncivilized…..Tell your father not to run for election….
blue****:
How about lowering the bus fee to 70 won for the uncivilized people? [When Chung Mong-joon was asked how much the bus fee is in a debate, he guessed 70 won although it was 1,000 won.] Oh well, how worthless common people must look to the son of a chaebol parent.
Comments from Ilbe:
약샤:
The Seoul mayor will be Park Won-soon again…I guarantee you, ke ke ke ke ke. It’s fucking annoying. He will again try to turn Seoul into some countryside village. Politicians really need to take control of their sons. Lee Hoi-chang also failed because of his son. Chung Mong-joon will definitely fail. It’s Park Won-soon again. Suck it, Ilbe people ㅠㅠ
피아제찾는노짱:
Lefty zombie bastards seem to be mad at the word “uncivilized”. It’s better not to use a word like that to sound convincing. Except that, he isn’t wrong. And what? President Park disrupted the rescue operation?? Just because the president visited the area, did diving and controls personnel all go to see her or something? Ke ke ke, only high ranking authorities who don’t do the actual work might have met her. Same old conspiracy theories from lefty zombies drive me insane, ke ke.
안정된삼각뿔:
The media company already issued a retraction for the wrong claim that President Park disrupted the rescue operation. Fucking A, they publish articles in a hit-and-run manner. Fucking SOBs. Even if they issue a retraction later, lefty zombies don’t pay attention to it. Real SOBs.
훈계쟁이:
It seems the young bastard was sucked into Ilbe too much that he couldn’t see what really matters in his life. Leftist media will keep dragging this. Soon they will make it seem that Chung Mong-joon thinks the public sentiment is a fucking joke just like his son does.
내가일베끊는다:
Is that bastard crazy? No matter how frustrated he is, there are things he shouldn’t say from his position. Is it because he’s only a 96er? Sigh… What if Chung loses votes because of that… I don’t even wanna imagine if Park Won-soon is re-elected for the mayor of Seoul.
조중사:
He said the right thing, but I can’t imagine how much bashing it would draw. I don’t know when this country shifted to the left so much that we can’t even say the right thing. During the lost decade of Kim Dae-jung and Roh Mu-hyun administrations, leftists were fostered by the KTU. The students who were influenced by them are in their 20s and 30s now. By today’s standards, you get witch-hunted for saying the right thing…
순서를기다려라:
Ah, Chung Mong-joon has raised his son properly. Bad influence on the election? Don’t worry. Those who won’t vote for Chung because of this weren’t gonna vote for him in the first place anyway. I was critical of Chung but I’m re-evaluating him. It’s true that those people are uncivilized, fuck..
클린일베캠페:
Ke ke ke ke ke, despite the huge costs, Chung sent a floating dock to the accident area. Then his son inflicted a huge amount of damage just through his comment on Facebook, ke ke.
영화사랑:
I’m surprised that a high school student can even think like that. He must be a good student. They should not bash him just for the word “uncivilized”. Of course, it may sound inappropriate from some viewpoint, but his comment also means that they need to reflect on how uncivilized it may have looked to the high school student’s eyes. It’s regrettable that the public opinion and media make it all political just because he is a politician’s son.
삼청교육대부활:
It is more of a problem because he is a “kid” who just graduated from high school. No matter what the truth is, average people would assume that he might have said that because he has been influenced by his father over the dinner table.
라도의과학:
Ke ke ke ke ke, if some random person spewed it, it would’ve been nothing. But a lawmaker’s son immaturely spewed that, ke ke ke ke. “I’m an Ilbe user” is written all over the place, ke ke ke ke. If he was my son, I would’ve fucking beaten him up, ke ke ke. If you are a child of a prominent parent, you should make comments like that only between your family. Sigh.. You can argue against lefty zombies’ accusations but the outcome of the election may be negative…
After the ferry accident, public TV channels KBS and SBS reported on negative incidents related to Ilbe. Ilbe netizens have reacted to the media coverage.
From Ilbe:
KBS mentioned Ilbe again. Is Ilbe their punching bag?
Just now, KBS showed a screencap of Ilbe regarding insults related to the Sewol ferry accident. They reported that a 20-something guy is in custody. There may be young students in Ilbe but most of the users are adults. They take responsibility for their own posts. It’s regrettable if the arrested guy is an Ilbe user. However, it is not right for the media to mention Ilbe whenever some internet incident happens. There are problematic posts on Ilbe but there are much more positive posts. Why should Ilbe be blamed for every online incident? Let’s see whether Ilbe is really an immoral and evil community.
1) For the people who look at Ilbe with a grudge, Ilbe’s image is “evil”. An immoral cancerous site. The black color. Pure darkness with no light. Is Ilbe really completely dark and evil as they claim?
2) Three days after the Sewol ferry accident, KBS aired the following report.
KBS News: “But unimaginable things are happening on the internet. Comments mocking the victims are spreading and smishing [“SMS-Phishing”, i.e. faking text messages] is rearing its head. Recently on this site (showing Ilbe’s homepage), (1) posts mocking the victims were posted. The police confirmed 6 cases. The police secured the netizens’ IDs and IPs and consider applying the law against defamation. They are also investigating (2) 6 cases of posts that faked as if victims requested help after the accident. (3) The post that claimed that the autopsy revealed a victim didn’t die long ago…”
As you guys should know, only (1) is applicable to Ilbe. (2) and (3) are not from Ilbe. Ilbe rather tried to debunk rumors on social media to prevent confusion. By debunking internet rumors and reporting rumor-mongers to the authorities, we were able to prevent rumors from going wild unlike during the mad cow disease turmoil. We helped them catch trolls like Ms. Hong who appeared on MBN and made false comments. Therefore, it was wrong for KBS to report on those bad things as if Ilbe is behind them all.
3) Also, it is farfetched to depict Ilbe as evil using 6 cases of posts mocking the victims. In July, 2013, the average number of posts per day on Ilbe was 40,000 with hundreds of thousands of comments
On December 15th in last year, “Saebu”, known as the administrator of Ilbe, wrote a post asking to refrain from making false reports about Ilbe. He said, “It is not true that Ilbe is a harmful site. 40,000 new posts and hundreds of thousands of comments are posted on Ilbe everyday. The moderators are continuously monitoring posts to regulate them.”
That is from a New DongA article from 2013. When there is a big incident like the Sewol ferry accident, there are more posts than usual on Ilbe and the number of simultaneous users are easily above 20,000.
“The police confirmed 6 cases.”
The KBS report is from the 19th, three days after the accident. There might have been 150,000 new posts after the accident if there were 50,000 new posts each day. 6 cases out of 150,000 posts. It doesn’t make sense to depict Ilbe as evil because of that.
[…]
4) Moreover, as Saebu said in the interview as an admin back then, there are moderators who keep monitoring the site. Even Il-gays also criticize such posts. They are indifferent if the offenders are punished by law. The overall sentiment of Ilbe is critical of immature acts on the Sewol ferry tragedy. As some gay said, if a reporter makes trouble, it is a mistake but if the trouble is from Ilbe, is it all criminal?
Upon the news that the SBS current affairs program “We want to know it” is planning to cover Ilbe, there was a flood of posts proving good deeds done by Ilbe users. You wouldn’t normally let your left hand know your right hand’s good deeds. But it was a protest against the SBS Programming Directors (PD) who seem to intend to depict Ilbe negatively while claiming that they won’t only focus on the negative aspect. They are just saying “We are not some criminals or fools as you think.”
5) If they ask, “But isn’t it too much to insult the diseased former presidents or ridicule 5.18?”, I would say, “Ban all jokes and rumors about all former and current presidents on the internet. Ban all sites that allow such comments. Then we can talk.” The media or political groups that see Ilbe with a grudge are naturally all leftist or pro-North Korean. Their goal is to destroy Ilbe for political purpose. It is not to simply make the internet environment better.
They leave alone comments like “Rip apart Rat Myung-bak.”, rumors like “Kim Hyon-hui’s KAL terrorism was fabricated by the South Korean government.” or posts that disparage rightist presidents such as Syngman Rhee and Park Chung-hee. But they are red-eyed about Ilbe because they are just waging a leftist political offensive against the rightist. This is the fact that even elementary students can see through. Be honest, guys.
6)
[…]
As the post above that received 900 up votes says, Ilbe is a website where mainly anti-North Korea patriots come together. It is also a humor site where they share their love for animals and various knowledge and information. Although they do retarded things sometimes.
After witnessing the whole country falling into chaos because of the leftist propaganda during the mad cow disease hoax, Ilbe gets tough and tenacious against the leftist propaganda whenever a big incident happens in the country. But normally, Ilbe is a group of self-claimed retards who pick up birds or play Il-vengers. Nothing more, nothing less. They do good things sometimes.
That is a screencap from KBS. One thread title says, “I took away a granny’s baggage.” Il-gays must be laughing, knowing the truth.
When I was waiting for the bus, a granny came to me and asked me if I can help her carry her stuff to her home. Since all I have is time, how could I not help? I carried it to her home. The bag was heavy like it has stones in it. My arms were trembling. I took this picture while taking a break at the elevator as a haeng-gay [Ilbe users who take action].
Let’s take a look at other posts. Is this something that KBS should criticize?
Identifying the third officer of the ferry, Showing off a good deed, identifying a rumor-monger, debunking a rumor, debunking a rumor, debunking a rumor, identifying a journalist, criticizing a journalist, citing a foreign media report, debunking a rumor, introducing another site’s good deeds.
7) As you can see from the KBS report’s intention, there are groups of people who try to mislead as if everything negative online related to the Sewol ferry accident is from Ilbe. It may not be the scheme of the whole KBS but the leftist group within KBS. Whether they are in the form of media, politicians or internet communities, everyone knows that their accusations on Ilbe stem from the vigorous leftist offensive against Ilbe that helped Park Geun-hye’s election campaigns.
It would be honest if they openly acknowledge that they are making political attacks. It is dishonest to depict Ilbe as an immoral group and attempt to destroy it. Of course, that is leftist-like. Don’t dig your own grave by making farfetched claims about Ilbe using some inappropriate posts. Those posts can be sorted out and if you want to persecute them, all power to you. However, if you go too far, your true nature will be revealed and you will lose your job.
Think about how those once-outspoken leftist journalists, celebrities and attention-seekers got shut up. Take care.
Comments from Ilbe:
공부하라고댓글좀:
I’ve seen Il-gays who were foaming at the mouth to check whether the captain and Ms. Hong were from Jeolla-do. So I don’t agree with your post. Don’t you think your own post is also selective? Don’t try to shield Ilbe. If you approach it like that, there is no end. Ilbe is just a playground where disabled fellows mumble and play together. Nothing else.
올해벌써고3:
Honestly, I have nothing to say if Ilbe is bashed. But it’s unfair to pin everything on Ilbe while neglecting comments on DC Baseball Gallery or Naver.
파쉬툰왈리:
Are you a retard? I just scrolled down after reading a few lines. Ilbe is merely a public venue where numerous individuals come and go. There is no identity. Why do you have a sense of belonging and care about Ilbe’s image??? Bashing Ilbe is like punching in the air. It’s like you are saying “Ouch!!” because the air got punched. Those who bash the air and those who complain that the air got hit….same bastards, tsk tsk.
홍어끔살:
It’s not like the first or second time, ke ke ke. It’s bothersome to respond to them any more. Just enjoy, ke ke ke. People will visit Ilbe wondering what kind of retarded site it is but end up getting industrialized [aligned with the conservative viewpoints], ke ke ke. If they look at Ilbe for themselves, they should know Ilbe isn’t some immoral anti-social criminal site, ke ke ke.
파워게이:
Don’t show off Ilbe pride. Think about the positive side. They are actually advertising Ilbe. Many upset netizens will visit Ilbe and they will realize that the TV reports are bullshit after reading debunking posts on Ilbe. Then those newbies end up becoming new Ilbe bugs.
이게머니:
I completely agree with point 5! In that way, Naver, Daum, Nate, DC, etc. are all harmful websites. But they say nothing against Naver or Daum. Such cowards.
아리스클리토리스:
So sensational journalism and rumor-mongering on social media represent democracy but people who detect false reports and rumors are vandals? It is a good chance for those who politically try to take advantage of the tragedy but those who try to prevent it are persecuted. The Republic of Korea’s future is very bright. Was my lefty zombie speech style decent??
타네시마포푸라:
It is because the Ilbe admins do not respond to accusations out of fear of revealing their identity. Because they will be bashed so much in this country if they reveal their identity. The journalists take advantage of that. No matter how much you Il-gays bash the journalists and refute their accusations, they don’t even bat an eye.
시계와중력:
Ilbe isn’t some creature. It is just a forum site that many people use. It has less restrictions compared to other sites and so many people use it. Problems are bound to happen, but how is that a problem with the website, ke ke ke ke. If anything, humans in general are the problem, ke ke ke ke.
헐크겨털:
Voted up for the facts. Hey, I’m honestly thankful for Ilbe. They sharply detect rumor-mongers. I was freaked out during the mad cow disease hoax. Good work, gays.
노짱찾아오만리:
There are two reasons why the media mentions Ilbe. Because they are leftist media who wants to stomp on Ilbe or because Ilbe stories sell. For the ratings. Nothing else. Voted up the good post.
지옥대중탕:
Those lefty zombie trash journalists pick on several posts out of 100,000 posts a day and generalize as if that is all about the site… Is there anything that can be done about them? Less than 0.01% of the posts made fun of the victims. Fucking lefty zombie trashy journalist bastards who sold off their conscience for their political agenda.
종북좌빨아우트:
I was going crazy reading lefty Daum and Naver comments. I gained hope thanks to Ilbe.
해외원어민:
If Ilbe bugs are trash, most people in the world are trash, too. You may think this is worthless Ilbe pride, but I have never seen any other site where there is as little pretense and you can freely express your opinion with guaranteed freedom of speech. On other sites, they are busy wearing a mask.
Meanwhile, Dispatch published a comprehensive article about many questions that have been raised by the public about the aftermath of the accident.
