Cho Kuk says Rescene was never his target in right-wing slang controversy
The former party leader said that despite the ongoing dispute over the suffix "-no", he never meant that the K-pop group was associated with the far-right site Ilbe, and apologized for the fallout.
Cho Kuk, the Rebuilding Korea Party candidate in the parliamentary by-election for Pyeongtaek-B in Gyeonggi, acknowledges defeat at his campaign office in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi, on June 4.JOINT PRESS CORPS
Former Rebuilding Korea Party leader Cho Kuk on Sunday apologized to K-pop girl group Rescene, clarifying that he had never accused one of its members of being a right-wing extremist.
Cho, previously on July 5, wrote a Facebook post criticizing the trending slang of adding the suffix "-no” as derogatory speech. He did not explicitly point out Rescene, but the girl group's member Woni had recently been criticized by a broadcast producer for ending a sentence with "-no” in a viral YouTube clip uploaded on June 28.
“I became aware that my remarks have been perceived as criticism directed at Rescene,” Cho wrote on Facebook on Sunday. “In none of my posts did I mention or target Rescene.”
“As a citizen of a democratic republic before being a politician, I wanted to point out how deeply Ilbe's culture — which has consistently mocked the values of democracy and human rights while promoting hatred — has permeated our everyday language and to raise awareness of its dangers,” he added.
Users of the far-right site Ilgan Best, also known as “Ilbe,” attach "-no” to sentences to mock the late President Roh Moo-hyun, who came from the region and often spoke in his Gyeongsang dialect in official speeches. His surname, though written “Roh” in English, is also pronounced “no” in Korean. The practice of Ilbe users to append "-no” to the end of every sentence — even when it doesn't make grammatical sense — eventually became an identifier of the far-right community.
Controversy arose after the producer at state broadcaster MBC's South Gyeongsang bureau wrote on X on July 1 regarding Woni’s usage of “-no” as a far-right online community Ilbe-esque interaction.
Girl group Rescene's Woni, left, says “It's scary, the lights are scary, too,” during her visit to member Minami's home in Japan in a YouTube video.SCREEN CAPTURE
Following the controversy, Cho remarked on Facebook, criticizing Ilbe's use of "-no” in a Facebook post. He claimed that their use of "-no” did not constitute authentic dialect and shared an image that contrasted how a Seoul native, an Ilbe user and a Busan native speak. In a follow-up post the next day, Cho noted that many Korean teens and 20s use “-no” on their questions even though they are not Ilbe members, calling it a “mistaken practice that mocks and denigrates late President Roh.”
This later drew backlash, and while some agreed, far more people rejected the accusation than supported it, calling it ideological policing gone too far.
In his latest post Sunday, Cho cleared up the controversy and stressed that none of his posts mentioned the group being related to Ilbe.
“I never said Rescene was associated with Ilbe,” Cho said. “To be honest, I know very little about idol groups, including Rescene.”
Cho also said he felt troubled by the fallout from raising concerns about Ilbe's use of "-no,” which he described as distinct from the regional dialect despite superficial similarities.
Rescene's Minami, right, shouting, ″Geoje yahoo,″ next to Woni on a YouTube videoSCREEN CAPTURE
“What I found particularly lamentable was that Ilbe's use of '-no,' which began as a way to mock former President Roh Moo-hyun, has spread throughout society without meaningful criticism and has come to be tolerated,” he said.
Cho added that after speaking with his daughter and younger party staff, he came to reflect more carefully on the language and culture of younger generations and the contexts in which they use certain expressions.
“I will continue to oppose Ilbe's antihuman rights and inhumane culture because it is a deadly poison to human rights and democracy, regardless of political ideology,” he wrote. “At the same time, I will make a greater effort to understand the language and culture of future generations.”
He concluded the post by writing, “I'll end with a slogan I learned through this incident: Rescene, yahoo!” echoing the phrase “Geoje, yahoo!” shouted by Rescene member Minami in a YouTube video with Woni.
Meanwhile, the MBC producer later faced criticism after viewers found numerous subtitles in programs she had worked on that reflected the Gyeongsang dialect, including phrases such as “Mworahano?” or “What are you saying?” As the backlash grew, the producer switched her personal social media account to private.
This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
