'Look at Chey Tae-won's face': PPP lawmaker says expression reveals arm-twisting

People Power Party lawmaker Lee Jin-suk posted a photo showing half the face of SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won at the "Great Leap Forward Three Mega-Projects National Briefing" on June 29 and said, "Expressions don't lie." She also tagged the post with the phrase "the expression you make when your arm is twisted."

Writing on Facebook on Tuesday, Lee said, "If the praise he was hearing were genuine — earned through heroic deeds — his face would show emotion and gratitude. Look at Chairman Chey Tae-won's expression as he listens to Lee Jae Myung call him a 'national hero.'"

Lee also took aim at President Lee Jae Myung's use of the word "hero" to describe both Chey and another business leader, asking, "Is this North Korea?" She said the title "hero" is commonly used in socialist states and questioned whether the president was deliberately adopting North Korean-style language. "Is Lee Jae Myung — without even realizing it — trying to unify our vocabulary with North Korean terminology first?" she said.

On June 29, President Lee bowed 90 degrees to the two chairmen at the national briefing held at Cheong Wa Dae after they announced large-scale investment plans, saying he wanted to call them "national heroes." The companies announced a combined investment of 800 trillion won ($515 billion) to develop the Honam region into a second major semiconductor production hub.