Sarcasm Floods Over 'Bus House' Proposal… Press Conference Canceled Followed by 'Apology'

[Anchor]

Internet users have been pouring out satire day after day over Democratic Party lawmaker Hwang Hee's absurd idea to utilize retired buses as living spaces for young people. Lawmaker Hwang posted an official apology three days later.

Reporter Son Hyeong-an has the details.

[Reporter]

Parodies of established apartment brand names appear, along with depictions of young people living in buses stationed at bus terminals.

[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 a single bus came down.]

Most of these are images generated by AI.

On the 7th, after third-term Democratic Party lawmaker Hwang Hee proposed providing remodeled retired buses as temporary housing spaces to resolve the housing shortage for young people, a flood of so-called satirical memes mocking the proposal spread across social media and internet communities.

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

The People Power Party criticized that "instead of supplying quality housing, he mocked the younger generation with an absurd idea,"

[Park Chung-kwon / Senior Spokesperson for the People Power Party: I think explaining the background of how such ideas were brought forward and making a profound apology should come first.]

The Rebuilding Korea Party pointed out, "As a ruling party lawmaker on the Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee who should be designing supply measures, he abruptly threw out a 'temporary shelter' idea." The New Reform Party sharpened its criticism, stating, "There are many voices pointing out the hypocrisy of destroying the public's housing ladder while offering retired-bus housing to young people."

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

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

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

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 consider 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.