"Wrong Person Revealed as 'Jipgeson Writer'... Police Decide Not to Prosecute Netizens"

Police: "Expressed strong opinions on inappropriate behavior"
Victims' side protests, "Investigation not properly conducted"

The police have decided not to prosecute in a case where a victim, who was wrongly identified as the person who drew the so-called 'jipgeson' in Nexon's game promotional video and suffered from cyberbullying (online group harassment), filed a lawsuit against the authors of the posts.

On the 5th, the Seoul Seocho Police Station decided not to prosecute (dismiss) the case in which animator A filed a lawsuit against netizens who wrote online posts about her, accusing them of defamation under the Information and Communications Network Act, obscenity using communication media under the Sexual Violence Punishment Act, and insult, Yonhap News reported on the same day. This case began in November last year with a promotional video for the game 'MapleStory' released on YouTube by Nexon. Some netizens claimed that the hand gesture of the game character in the video was a 'symbol of misogyny, the jipgeson hand shape.' During this process, female employee A of the animation production company was identified as the person who drew the storyboard for that scene, and her personal information quickly spread online, followed by a series of insulting posts against her. Later, it was revealed that the person who drew the storyboard was not A but a man in his 40s. As the controversy arose, Nexon made the video private.

Seocho Police Station / Photo by Moon Honam munonam@

In June, A submitted a complaint to the Seocho Police Station against the authors of the online posts. However, the police, in the notification of the investigation result that decided not to prosecute, stated, "The defendants' criticism of the complainant is considered a logical consequence," and clarified that the act of writing the problematic posts does not constitute a crime. The animation production company's apology issued first after the controversy also served as a basis for this decision. The police added, "A has posted tweets in the past that seemed to sympathize with feminists."

They further stated, "The defendants' posts are judged to be merely somewhat rude and mocking expressions used in the process of expressing their opinions on the inappropriate behavior of radical feminists rather than criticism of specific individuals such as A," and "Currently, in South Korea, using the 'jipge finger gesture' in corporate advertisements is taboo in the current atmosphere." Regarding the obscenity using communication media charge, they explained, "Although the charge is significant, Twitter is a US-based company, so cooperation with an overseas company is necessary," and "However, Twitter only cooperates with requests for data provision in serious crimes, so given the nature of this crime, it is difficult to expect a response, and there is no practical benefit in continuing the investigation by applying for a search warrant."

Regarding this investigation result, A's side expressed that it is difficult to accept and plans to file an objection. Beom Yookyung, a lawyer from Deoksu Law Firm representing A, told Yonhap News, "Whether A is a feminist or not, there is no reason to endure excessive insults or criticism for things she did not actually do," and criticized, "Regarding the obscenity using communication media charge, the police dismissed it without conducting a specific investigation and citing difficulty in obtaining cooperation, so I do not think the police investigation was conducted appropriately."