Roh Moo-hyun Foundation trustee says K-pop idol's dialect remark fits pattern of far-right slang

Cho Su-jin, a lawyer and trustee of the Roh Moo-hyun Foundation, said that "museopno," a remark made by Won-i, a member of girl group Lisn, constitutes the type of hateful expression associated with the far-right online community Ilbe.

Cho recently appeared on the YouTube channel "Jang Yun-seon's Chwi-jae Pyeonuijeom" and, when asked for her view on the remark, said "Other expressions by that singer have also been surfacing, so I did think it fit the pattern of Ilbe-style language," adding, "I am also from the Gyeongsang region."

Cho then said the issue was "a structural problem," adding that "Ilbe-style expressions are being used very widely, and Ilbe culture has been pervasive from adolescence through adulthood."

She went on to say that "the debate seems to center on whether it is appropriate to hold an individual excessively accountable — telling someone 'you are responsible for this' or 'you did something wrong' — or to target them online," while also noting that "even though this is not solely an individual's responsibility, we have reached a point where it can no longer go unchallenged."

Cho said that "just as with the Baejae High School incident and the Starbucks promotional case, a culture that once lurked in the shadows is gradually moving into the open," and that "the current situation has come about precisely because it was not properly called out for so long."

She added that "it is now time for society to make clearly known just how horrific the origins of these expressions are."

The controversy began after Won-i, who is from Geoje in South Gyeongsang Province, said "museopno" — a dialect word for "scary" — upon encountering a frightening situation in content released by the group. Some online commenters subsequently claimed that the sentence-ending suffix "-no" resembled a speech pattern used on far-right online communities to mock the late former President Roh Moo-hyun.

The dispute then spread into the political arena, with former Rebuilding Korea Party leader Cho Kuk and Reform Party leader Lee Jun-seok each weighing in on social media with opposing views.

Meanwhile, Shin Ji-young, a professor in the Korean language and literature department at Korea University, said on YTN Radio's "YTN Hae! Bopsida" on Wednesday that "the suffix '-no' is used broadly not only in questions but also in soliloquies and exclamatory monologues."

Shin said that "'museopno' is not a question but something closer to an exclamation," and that "it is a natural exclamatory expression used by dialect speakers that can be replaced by the standard Korean '-ne' (museopne). In the Gyeongsang dialect, the '-no' form is used as an exclamatory ending."