Posting a wedding photo, “I’m sorry, brother.”
“At this time, my brother is the older brother of our family.”
Kim Hye-ran, spokesperson for the People Power Party, wrote:
Criticism of “mocking the First Lady” and “internal shooting”
Kim Hye-ran, spokesperson for the People Power Party. / Photo = Yonhap News TV YouTube capture The spokesperson of the People Power Party is embroiled in controversy for mocking President Yoon Seok-yeol’s spouse, First Lady Kim Kun-hee. After receiving a ‘text bomb’ filled with profanity from party supporters asking, “Are you mocking the first lady?” even aides within the party joined in the criticism.
People Power Party spokesperson Kim Hye-ran posted a wedding photo on Facebook on the 18th and said, “This year was our 20th wedding anniversary. Our wedding anniversary was in September, but we both forgot about it and passed by,” and said to her spouse, “Brother, I gave you the election as a 20th anniversary gift.” “I’m sorry for making you work out so hard and disappointing you,” he wrote.
It was a post posted to express gratitude to one’s spouse, but the sentence at the end of the post, “At this time, my older brother is a paunchy older brother who has been lying around in our house for 20 years,” became an issue among some party supporters. The reason was that it reminded us of the controversy over Ms. Kim’s ‘brother’ recently sparked by election broker Myung Tae-gyun. Photo = Kim Hye-ran, People Power Party Spokesperson Facebook Spokesperson Kim’s posts include, “There was an internal gunfighter here who couldn’t tell the difference between a friend and a friend,” “It’s deplorable that you’re the spokesperson,” “It’s a shame,” “Post a picture of your husband’s belly,” and ” There were comments such as “If I hadn’t used the word ‘Oppa at this time,’ no one would have been interested.” It has been reported that Spokesperson Kim has also been receiving abusive text messages asking, “Are you mocking the First Lady?”
Yeo Myeong, an aide in the office of People Power Party lawmaker Kang Seung-gyu, who is considered pro-Yoon (Seok-yeol Yoon), also publicly criticized Spokesperson Kim. He said on Facebook, “I thought it was a relay verification post about the ‘First Lady’s story'” and “Party lawmakers and aides are staying up all night defending the National Assembly inspection from the Democratic Party’s political battles every day. The spokesperson is a political official. Such a post at such a critical time. Olli said, “I go beyond laughing at the rudeness of the ‘People Power Spokesperson’ and even feel saddened.”
As the controversy intensified, Spokesperson Kim posted an additional message on Facebook on the 19th, saying, “Of course the ‘older brother who has been rolling around for 20 years with a big belly’ is my husband. Are you asking because you really don’t know? Is there room for my post to be interpreted differently than my husband?” She said, “There are many people who are angry and ask why I call my husband ‘oppa’, but I have been calling my husband that way my whole life and I have not been able to change it until this age. It is not something that should be criticized like this by anyone.”
He continued, “They say the title ‘oppa’ I wrote in my writing refers to ‘my husband,’ but I’m getting a lot of abusive text messages asking ‘Are you mocking the first lady?'” and “Is there any part of my writing that is being interpreted that way?” “I don’t know how it works,” he added. The sentence written in the first post, ‘At this time, my older brother is the one with a big belly who has been lying around in our house for 20 years,’ was deleted. Photo = Myeong Tae-gyun Facebook The controversy over Ms. Kim’s ‘brother’, which ignited their off-site war of words, arose from a past private conversation with Ms. Kim that Ms. Myeong recently revealed through Facebook. On the 15th, Mr. Myeong posted a KakaoTalk conversation with Ms. Kim on Facebook, and various interpretations were raised about who the ‘brother’ that Mrs. Kim referred to in the conversation was, sparking controversy in the political world.
In the KakaoTalk conversation revealed by Mr. Myeong at the time, Mrs. Kim said, ‘Please forgive my brother for talking immaturely.’ Accordingly, there was speculation in the opposition party that the ‘brother’ mentioned by Mrs. Kim was President Yoon. The President’s Office explained that this ‘brother’ was Mrs. Kim’s biological brother, but after the President’s Office’s explanation, Myung amplified the controversy by saying, “Ms. Kim’s biological brother does not know political content.”
However, Mr. Myung eventually confirmed through the media and YouTube that this brother was indeed Ms. Kim’s biological brother. Regarding her failure to clearly state her position on her brother’s controversy, Myung said, “I was joking (to the media). I was causing trouble for the media.”
Hong Min-seong, Hankyung.com reporter mshong@hankyung.com
