Heo Ji-woong calls for punishment of politicians who defended Baejae High School baseball players over May 18 mockery

Writer and broadcaster Heo Ji-woong criticized politicians who defended Baejae High School baseball players caught up in a controversy over chants mocking the May 18 pro-democracy uprising.

In a post on his Instagram on Friday, Heo referenced Cheong Wa Dae's formal warning to Lee Byung-tae, vice chairman of the Presidential Committee on Regulatory Reform.

Lee had posted on social media that the disciplinary action taken against the Baejae High School baseball players amounted to treating May 18 as "sacred ground" and was "like North Korea." Cheong Wa Dae warned that the remarks "could cause misunderstanding, running counter to the government's firm stance of rejecting hatred and mockery," and called them "inappropriate conduct for someone in a position of responsibility at a government-affiliated body."

Heo said he spent a long time searching for any further statement that might have followed the formal warning. "There was nothing," he said. "That was it." He said the response from Cheong Wa Dae fell short.

"This is why the entire country feels free to dismiss, discriminate against and treat Honam people as outsiders from birth," he said. "Because I'm not the one being excluded, I can politely look away from hate speech. Because they are not treated as equal citizens, people can look down on them with pity and say they're tired of the controversy. Because there is no self-censorship, people can say whatever they want about Gwangju and Honam and find it merely amusing. The principle that hate speech does not fall under freedom of expression is treated as something to shrug off."

Heo said Lee's words were "ugly" and amounted to "a kind of endorsement, actively recommending and promoting the hate speech of the Baejae High School baseball players." He said such statements by public officials and politicians had "bred regional hatred" and turned it into "a national pastime — something so enjoyable that people ask how they could ever stop."

"Hate speech has nothing to do with freedom of expression," Heo said. "But people like Lee Byung-tae flatten and blur that clear line. They wrap their defense of hate speech in the language of principle. They loudly declare it is acceptable and encourage it. They are sowing the seeds of hatred."

He went on to say that such people deserved the harshest punishment. "Starbucks, Jeong Yong-jin, Baejae High School — leave all of them alone. Individuals are not the point. Public outrage directed at them as examples will not solve this. It only breeds more backlash. Lee Byung-tae, Kim Min-jeon, Jeong Jeom-sik, Na Kyung-won and Rep. Park Sang-woong must be punished. Without silencing politicians and public officials, this hatred can never be stopped," he said.

paq@heraldcorp.com