"Believe in Ghosts," "Use Semen Sparingly"... Controversy Over Humanities Lecture at Nanbang Gongsa

Lecture fee is 3.5 million won for a famous instructor's special lecture
Internal backlash over sexual harassment and outdated content

The Korea District Heating Corporation faced internal backlash after a humanities lecture conducted for all employees was filled with outdated and sexist remarks.

Korea District Heating Corporation Headquarters Exterior View

On the 18th, the office of Jang Cheol-min, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, revealed that they confirmed this fact after receiving reports from employees and obtaining materials from the corporation. The problematic lecture took place on the 12th, where columnist Jo Yong-heon took the stage to talk about "Six Ways to Change Your Life." The original theme was "Promoting positive personal change through the humanities and fostering an organizational culture where all employees communicate together," focusing on "a life of giving through past examples," "life teachers, meditation, reading, and wisdom for living life." The lecture fee was 3.5 million won.

However, the actual content of the lecture was completely different. He said things like "The total amount of male semen is fixed, and if you conserve it, your body fills with yang energy and your eyes shine," "If your home site is bad, you could die," and "Believe in the afterlife and ghosts."

After the lecture ended, the internal bulletin board of the Korea District Heating Corporation was flooded with dozens of critical comments such as "It was not a humanities lecture but a stand-up comedy," "Please ensure that such a lecturer is never invited again," and "I don't understand why we were asked to listen to this."

Also active as a columnist, he has been writing daily newspaper columns since 2004 and has published numerous books including "Jo Yong-heon's Prestigious Families," "Jo Yong-heon's Stories of Saju and Myeongri," and "Jo Yong-heon's Path to Mountain Temples." He has been a subject of controversy multiple times for columns related to shamanism. On the 8th of this month, he described Employment and Labor Minister Kim Moon-soo's physiognomy as "Sanyang (Mountain Goat) physiognomy," claiming "the strictness and uprightness of the Yeongnam scholars remain." In the previous presidential election, he wrote that there were shamans positioned in Yoon Seok-youl's campaign team, which sparked controversy and was later deleted from portals. The media stated, "Some facts were unclear, so the measure was taken after consulting with the author."