Even for urgent apology for ‘7th grade pass’ Ilbe user Lee Jae-myeong fell down

After consistently pouring out sexual harassment and derogatory remarks on the’Daily Best Repository’ (ilbe), an extreme online community, controversy over netizen A, who claimed to have passed the 7th grade public service exam, is spreading. After Gyeonggi Province identified Mr. A’s identity, Gyeonggi Gyeonggi Governor Lee Jae-myeong revealed the policy of “strict response”, and Mr. A posted an apology online to settle the situation.

On the 30th’DC Inside’, a netizen who identified himself as Mr. A posted an apology stating that most of the articles alluding to sexual harassment and sexual assault written in Ilbe were not true. The photo uploaded with this apology includes a mobile phone text message posted by Mr. A in the past while certifying his pass as a public official in Ilbe.

He said, “I apologize for the inconvenience to all of you because of this unpleasant thing,” and “I am an ordinary student who is no different from yours.” He said, “I was having a happy day without knowing that the situation would be so big, but I didn’t know that a big ordeal would come,” he said. “I don’t know what to explain to my mother.”

Mr. A has been criticized for posting thousands of articles on Ilbe, regularly uploading photos of women and sexual harassment. After taking pictures of the disabled on the subway from behind, he wrote a post that made a demeaning remark. Along with pictures of my younger sisters and minor women, I wrote several articles reminding me of sexual crimes.

Regarding this controversy, he said in this apology, “Most of the posts I have posted are not true,” and “Because of the nature of the space (online) community, it is common for people to post false stories that they are delusional.”

The controversy about Mr. A arose when a petitioner recently pointed out Mr. A, who is active in Ilbe, on a bulletin board for a national petition at the Blue House. Petitioner argued that Mr. A recently passed the 7th grade public service appointment examination, and has been writing in Ilbe regularly suggesting sexual harassment and sexual assault. Petitioner also said, “(Mr. A) approached a minor female student and took him to an accommodation, and then photographed inappropriate scenes and posted more than 5 times as if he boasted.”

When the petition received attention online and the criticism against Mr. A became intensifying, Gyeonggi Province began to verify the identity directly. Gyeonggi Province has been known to have identified Mr. A based on information such as age and school that A city has posted on Ilbe. According to Gyeonggi Province, the controversial party A passed the ‘2nd Gyeonggi-do Open Competition Appointment Exam in 2020’. In addition, Gyeonggi-do reported to the Governor, “There is a potential for violations of the Sexual Violence Penalty Act because minors are included in sexual relations boasting”.

The Governor said, “(Controversy related to Mr. A), if true, is not entitled to perform official duties for the residents by being delegated authority as a representative of the residents.” Of course, even legal measures will be strictly enforced.”

Gyeonggi-do’s HR Department is responding to the controversy with Mr. A by making a document to Governor Lee to report on trends related to new candidates.

Reporter Oh Wonseok [email protected]