"If 'Tank Day' expression led to a boycott, this should too"

"Matter warranting calls to boycott and oust president, ruling party"

Reform Party leader Lee Jun-seok speaks at a field campaign committee meeting held at the election office of Jeong Seung-yeon, candidate for the Incheon Yeonsu-gap National Assembly by-election, on June 1. [Yonhap]
Reform Party leader Lee Jun-seok speaks at a field campaign committee meeting held at the election office of Jeong Seung-yeon, candidate for the Incheon Yeonsu-gap National Assembly by-election, on June 1. [Yonhap]

Reform Party leader Lee Jun-seok has called on President Lee Jae Myung to take a position on remarks by Choi Wook, host of the pro-ruling party YouTube show "Maebulshow," who said online far-right community Ilbe should be "bulldozed with a tank."

Lee posted on social media Sunday, framing the controversy as a question of consistency. "People may have different sensitivities to the word 'tank' — some may feel a heaviness thinking of May Gwangju, while for others it may pass as a meme without any weight," he said. "But there must be consistency."

He went on to say that President Lee "must not let this pass if he has even a minimum of consistency and conscience."

"This is a president who fixated on Starbucks' 'Tank Day' expression — if that was enough to spark a boycott, then when someone says 'we should bulldoze them with a tank like Chun Doo-hwan,' the president should address it and ruling party politicians should be calling for boycotts and removal," Lee said.

The controversy stems from remarks broadcaster Choi Wook made June 5 on "Maebulshow," during a discussion on the rightward shift among people in their 20s and 30s. Choi argued that Ilbe, a far-right online community, should be criminalized, saying: "What these people admire most is Chun Doo-hwan. Online crimes on Ilbe should be bulldozed with a tank."

President Lee had previously expressed outrage when Starbucks Korea ran a "Tank Tumbler" promotion on the anniversary of the May 18 pro-democracy uprising, calling it "the inhumane and outrageous conduct of lowlife merchants."


jshan@heraldcorp.com