Former Rebuilding Korea Party leader Cho Kuk, who previously raised suspicions of ties to the far-right online community Ilbe regarding an idol group member's use of the suffix "no" at the end of a sentence, has now addressed similar allegations surrounding the author of the webtoon that inspired the drama "Manager Kim."
Some YouTube channels had raised suspicions of Ilbe ties regarding Park Tae-jun, the author of the webtoon "Lookism," which inspired the drama "Manager Kim." They claimed that a sign behind a speech bubble in "Lookism" read "Rock Owling," which they alleged was a reference to Owl Rock, the site where former President Roh Moo-hyun passed away. Cho shared a post by comics critic Park In-ha, who sought to correct these misunderstandings.
Critic Park stated that after checking the original work, he found the sign actually read "hanwon rock bowling," not "Rock owling," thereby denying the Ilbe-related controversy.
However, while sharing this post, Cho pointed out, "The reason for using '5.23' remains questionable."
This refers to a scene in the webtoon where the protagonist looks at a stopwatch and says "5 minutes 23 seconds," which had previously sparked allegations that it was meant to evoke May 23, the date of former President Roh's passing. By his comment, Cho expressed that he remains skeptical about that specific detail.
Previously, a controversy erupted when a producer at Gyeongnam MBC raised Ilbe-related suspicions after an idol singer from Geoje, Gyeongnam, named Woni used the phrase "museob-no" (is it scary?) in YouTube content. Cho joined in on these allegations yesterday by posting on his social media, referring to it as a "way to distinguish people from Busan."
This morning, Cho posted again, stating, "It seems there is a cowardly argument that raising this issue is an 'old-fashioned' act of lecturing teenagers and people in their 20s, given that many of them use 'no' in questions."
Cho continued, "I cannot agree with that at all," adding, "I believe we must clearly inform people that using 'no' in questions is not a matter of whether it fits Gyeongsang dialect usage, but a wrongful act of mocking and disparaging the late President Roh Moo-hyun."
He further added, "Young people should also recognize that using 'no' in questions is a form of hate speech and should stop using it."
Reported by Kim Taewon | Video by Seo Byeong-uk | Graphics by Lee Soo-min | Source: YouTube 'Hello, I am Woni, please take care of me', Webtoon 'Lookism' | Produced by SBS Digital News
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