'Bus House' Satire Floods Social Media... Press Conference Canceled and Apology Issued

[Anchor]

A proposal by lawmaker Hwang Hee to remodel decommissioned buses and provide them as temporary housing for young people has drawn fierce criticism. Videos satirizing the idea have been spreading across social media, and Lawmaker Hwang has issued an apology, admitting that he failed to carefully consider the sentiments of the younger generation.

Reporting by Son Hyeong-an.

[Reporter]

Parodies of established apartment brand names and depictions of young people living in buses stationed at bus terminals are being shared widely.

[AI-generated video (Provided by the office of People Power Party Lawmaker Joo Jin-woo): I dreamed of having a home of my own, but instead, a single bus was handed down to me.]

Most of these images were generated using AI.

On the 7th of this month, three-term Democratic Party Lawmaker Hwang Hee suggested providing decommissioned and remodeled buses as temporary living spaces, dubbed "Bus Houses," to help ease the housing shortage for young people. Following the proposal, a flurry of satirical memes mocking the idea flooded social media and online communities.

There were also many angry reactions from young people, with comments saying, "He is completely out of touch with the reality facing young people."

The People Power Party criticized the proposal, stating, "Instead of supplying quality housing, he mocked the younger generation with an absurd idea."

[Park Chong-kwon / Senior Spokesperson for the People Power Party: I believe that explaining the background behind how such ideas came to be and offering a profound apology should come first.]

The Rebuilding Korea Party pointed out, "A ruling party lawmaker belonging to the Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee of the National Assembly, who should be designing housing supply measures, abruptly tossed out a 'temporary shelter' idea." Meanwhile, the New Reform Party remarked, "There are many voices pointing out the hypocrisy of destroying the public's housing ladder while offering scrapped bus housing to young people."

The Democratic Party struggled to contain the fallout yesterday (the 10th), emphasizing that the proposal was an individual lawmaker's idea and unrelated to the party.

[Lee Ju-hee / Deputy Floor Spokesperson for the Democratic Party: It was presented as a personal opinion, and we feel a deep sense of regret about this.]

Lawmaker Hwang had announced in the morning that he would hold an explanatory press conference yesterday afternoon. However, apparently mindful of the enraged public sentiment, he canceled the briefing shortly afterward and instead posted an apology on social media.

Lawmaker Hwang stated, "I bow my head and apologize for causing great concern and disappointment to the younger generation and the public." He added, "The 'Bus House' was an idea intended to ease the burden of temporary housing costs for young people, but I failed to carefully understand the feelings of the youth themselves."

(Video reporting: Lee Seung-hwan and Shin Dong-hwan | Video editing: So Ji-hye | Design: Lee Jong-jung)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.