Lee Jae-myung Directly Refutes 'Robot Abuse' Allegations: "Only the Scene of Overturning Was Distorted in Reporting"

[Asia Economy Reporter Naju-seok] Lee Jae-myung, the Democratic Party presidential candidate, refuted the robot abuse controversy on the 31st as "fake news." Regarding the reports, Lee said, "It is poor reporting and distorted fabrication," adding, "I hope it does not happen again."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

On the same day, Lee pointed out through social media (SNS), "Some media outlets criticize that 'Lee Jae-myung deliberately knocked over a robot at the robot expo,'" emphasizing, "Some media outlets criticize that 'Lee Jae-myung deliberately knocked over a robot at the robot expo.'"

Earlier, some media released videos showing Lee pushing a quadruped robot dog at the '2021 RoboWorld' event held on the 28th at KINTEX in Goyang-si, Gyeonggi-do. In particular, Lee's pushing video was criticized for contrasting with President Moon Jae-in's cautious lifting of a quadruped robot in 2019.

Regarding the report, Lee explained, "The ability to withstand external shocks during mission execution and to restore posture after falling is a very important robot capability," adding, "This robot has posture recovery ability even after falling, so after the pursuit test, we conducted a fall test, and it performed a tumbling motion to excellently restore its original posture." He continued, "It was a performance worthy of praise, and I praised it."

Lee said, "Those unfamiliar with robot testing might misunderstand, but some media only show scenes of knocking over the robot while deleting the recovery scenes and call it violent behavior, which is fake news," adding, "It's no different from saying 'wielded a knife in a restaurant' just because I ate steak."

He urged, "If the media is proper, they should not distort with intent but report the whole truth," and added, "I hope there will be no more poor reporting and distorted fabrication that damages the credibility of the media."