Assemblyman Sangmin Lee "Will Receive Divine Punishment" Response
Some Mock "Playing According to Their Looks"
Lee Sang-min, a dissident member of the Democratic Party of Korea, received a protest text message containing profanity from the so-called 'Gaeddal,' the hardline supporters of party leader Lee Jae-myung. Lee Sang-min has opposed the party line that rejected the arrest motion against Lee Jae-myung.
On the 25th, posts titled "Support messages Lee Sang-min received" appeared on online communities 'Clien' and 'Tanzi Ilbo,' where Democratic Party supporters make up the majority of users. The message was a screenshot of a text message sent by the post author, who claimed to be a Gaeddal supporter, to Lee Sang-min and his reply. The author sent a five-line message to the lawmaker around 7:29 a.m. that day.
On the 25th, posts titled "Cheering Messages Received by Lee Sang-min" were uploaded on 'Clien' and 'Ddanzi Ilbo,' online communities where supporters of the Democratic Party make up the majority of users. [Photo by online community 'Clien']
"Lee Sang-min, we support you, ignore the Gaeddal, even if you form a new party, we can wait, you are the hope of the opposition."
On the surface, the content appears to be a message supporting Lee’s principled stance. About two hours later, Lee replied with "Thank you."
However, the author who received the reply sent a photo of a sliced watermelon along with the message, saying, "Read it vertically." The watermelon symbolizes "Democratic Party on the outside but People Power Party on the inside," a phrase commonly used to refer to dissident Democratic Party lawmakers.
As the author indicated, reading the first letter of each line vertically in the five-line message spells out a profanity: "이 XXX야" (a Korean curse phrase).
In response, Lee Sang-min sent another reply saying, "You will be punished by heaven," and "I will just cut it off completely." Opposition-leaning netizens shared this post on communities, mocking the lawmaker by saying he is "acting according to his appearance."
Meanwhile, on the same day, Lee appeared on Channel A’s radio show 'Political Signal' and commented on the mention of identifying lawmakers who voted for the arrest motion within the Democratic Party, saying, "Even the leadership says they will not forgive those who betrayed Leader Lee, but lawmakers are not Lee Jae-myung’s 'lackeys.'" He continued with his candid remarks.
Regarding the possibility that Lee Jae-myung might not step down from his leadership position and run in the general election even if he is detained, Lee said, "This is not a new religious cult; political forces can be swayed or expelled based on public opinion," adding, "If you think you can ignore the people and just go your own way, that is truly a recipe for total ruin."
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