The use of a regional dialect by Woni, the leader of the five-member girl group Rescene, in a YouTube video has become the center of an unexpected ideological debate.

The controversy was sparked when a producer at Gyeongnam MBC raised suspicions of ties to 'Ilbe' regarding the dialect used by Woni, a member from Geoje, South Gyeongsang Province, who has recently gained popularity for content featuring her local dialect.

Regarding Woni's remark, "Museopno" (meaning "It's scary" in the local dialect) while in a dark place, the producer wrote on their social media, "I was very upset to see a female idol and a producer exchanging 'no-no' in a friendly manner."

The producer further claimed, "Even though Gyeongsang dialect researchers have pointed out countless times that this usage is grammatically incorrect, young people are naturally using this ungrammatical 'no'."

The producer was arguing that the dialect ending used by Woni is a hate term used by the far-right online community 'Ilbe' to disparage the late former President Roh Moo-hyun.

The controversy escalated as political figures joined the fray.

Cho Kuk, former leader of the Rebuilding Korea Party, posted on his social media yesterday, "There are people who defend the use of 'no' at the end of sentences by Ilbe, claiming that 'people in Busan and the Yeongnam region use it that way too'," adding, "For a rebuttal to this, please refer to the method of distinguishing how people in Busan speak."

He further argued that, based on his observations, "'no' in the Yeongnam region is used when requesting a specific explanation of a situation."

In response, Lee Jun-seok, leader of the New Reform Party, criticized the former leader, saying, "He is trying to verify someone's ideology based on a single sentence ending," and pointed out, "A 22-year-old idol has been branded as an Ilbe member just because she used her hometown dialect to say 'museopno'."

Representative Yoon Sang-hyun of the People Power Party also criticized the situation on his social media, calling it a "suffocating surveillance society," and asked, "Must we resort to divisive tactics by even bringing up the dialect of an idol member in her early twenties?"

Broadcaster Kim Si-deok also weighed in, stating, "The 'no' that Woni used is indeed an interrogative sentence ending," adding, "At some point, there have been people who label anyone using the 'no' dialect as an Ilbe member."

In fact, Ahn Tae-hyung, a professor at Dong-A University's College of Basic Studies, previously explained in an interview that "in the southeastern dialect, the ending 'no' is also used to express 'exclamatory forms' such as talking to oneself, lamenting, or monologues."

Both inside and outside the pop culture industry, critics are pointing out that the ideological debate based on partisan logic over everyday linguistic expressions has become excessively overheated.

Reported by Lee Hyeon-yeong | Video by Choi Gang-san | Graphics by Yang Hye-min | Source: YouTube 'Hello, I am Woni, please take care of me' | Produced by SBS Digital News