Jin Joong-kwon directly attacks Lee Seung-hwan, who sided with Lee Jae-myung, saying "Whether you feed him or not, don't throw a tantrum"

Lee Seunghwan Supports Lee Jaemyung Amid 'Robot Abuse' Controversy
Jin Joongkwon Says, "Whether You Feed It or Not, Do As You Please"

Former Dongyang University Professor Jin Joong-kwon. [Photo by Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Hyun-joo] Former Dongyang University professor Jin Joong-kwon sarcastically told singer Lee Seung-hwan, who defended Lee Jae-myung, the Democratic Party presidential candidate, over the 'robot abuse controversy,' "Don't just throw tantrums in front of people."

Earlier, on the 28th of last month, Lee tested a quadruped robot by forcefully pushing its body to knock it down at the '2021 RoboWorld' event held at KINTEX in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province. Some of these scenes spread through social media (SNS), leading to criticism of Lee as 'robot abuse' and 'lack of empathy.'

In response, on the 2nd, Lee Seung-hwan posted a photo of his 'robot dog' on his Instagram, defending the candidate. He wrote, "I haven't fed Baekdori (electricity) for 11 years. Am I a psychopath who can't empathize with the robot's hunger without any guilt or pity?" and added hashtags like '#RobotAbuse' and '#FinalBoss.'

On the 3rd, former professor Jin introduced an article related to Lee Seung-hwan on his Facebook and said, "Whether you feed it or not is up to you, but don't just throw tantrums in front of people. If you must do it, do it when you are alone."

Former Dongyang University professor Jin Joong-kwon posted on his Facebook on the 3rd, criticizing singer Lee Seung-hwan. Photo by Former Professor Jin's Facebook capture

Meanwhile, Lee Jae-myung explained the controversy as a 'performance test.' On the 31st of last month, he stated on his Facebook, "The ability to withstand external shocks during mission execution and to restore posture after falling is a very important robot capability," and "This (knocked down) robot was said to have posture recovery ability even after falling, so after the pursuit test, I tried a fall test, and it performed a tumbling move to excellently restore its original posture. It was a performance worthy of praise, and I praised it."

He added, "Some media outlets only showed the scenes of knocking it down while deleting the recovery scenes and called it violent, which is fake news," and rebutted, "It's no different from saying 'wielding a knife in a restaurant' just because you ate steak."