Reform Party lawmaker Lee Jun-seok. [Yonhap]
Reform Party lawmaker Lee Jun-seok. [Yonhap]

Reform Party lawmaker Lee Jun-seok criticized President Lee Jae Myung's decision to nominate Basic Income Party lawmaker Yong Hye-in as minister of gender equality and family, saying the president "is drinking puffer fish poison, and the country will again be swept up in the convulsions."

Lee made the remarks Sunday on Facebook, saying, "He finally got rid of the 'kkol-pemi' — the hardcore feminists — so why is he touching that again?"

Lee shared a photo of a 2016 post from the Justice Party's member bulletin board, saying he was "stunned that, ten years later, the president would deliberately choose to taste it." He added, quoting the post's title, "You might as well go pro-North Korea."

The post Lee shared appears to have been written during a wave of mass resignations from the Justice Party in July 2016. The episode was triggered when a voice actress who worked on the online game Closers posted a photo on social media of a T-shirt supporting Megalia, a hardline feminist online community.

After a backlash from players, the game's developer removed and replaced the voice actress's recordings. The Justice Party's culture and arts committee then issued a statement criticizing the company's response, saying "political opinions cannot be grounds for restricting an individual's professional activities."

The statement drew a flood of criticism on the party's member bulletin board, with members asking whether the party was defending a hate community. The backlash quickly escalated into a mass suspension of membership dues and a wave of resignation applications. The post Lee cited appears to have been written in that atmosphere, four days after the statement was released.

The author of the post wrote, "You might as well go pro-North Korea. What even is Megalia? I'm so furious I can't sleep." Another user responded in agreement, writing, "At least that would be dramatic."

Ultimately, the party leadership under then-chairwoman Sim Sang-jeong officially withdrew the statement five days after its release, and it was deleted from the party's website.


min3654@heraldcorp.com