Past Naver KnowledgeiN Answers Exposed
2005 Post by "Top Star Instructor" Lee Jiyoung Draws Attention
Warm Message to a Senior in High School: "Do Not Despair"
"Please, never despair over money, conflict with your family, or your grades at school. Love yourself just the way you are."
A warm message of comfort that top social studies instructor Lee Jiyoung left 21 years ago for a struggling high school senior is drawing attention online. There was an incident in which some past anonymous answers posted on Naver Knowledge iN by politicians, celebrities, and athletes were partially exposed, and through this event, Lee has once again added to her reputation for good deeds.
According to the information technology (IT) industry and others on the 6th, a new "Knowledge iN" button was added to Naver's people profile page on the afternoon of the 4th. In the process, some of the answer histories that well-known figures in Korea had left on the Naver Knowledge iN service in the past were exposed and spread online.
An answer that Lee left in 2005 to a post written by a third-year high school student was also exposed and became known to the public. At the time, this student poured out their concerns, saying they were in extreme pain due to their family’s financial situation and conflict with their parents. The student confided, "My family is so poor. The five of us live in a place like a hillside shantytown with just two rooms," and added, "My father is a civil servant and my mother is a homemaker, but we don’t have money for college tuition."
The student went on, "I really want to study well and go to a good university," and "I’ve been studying on my own since middle school, but now it’s just too hard." The student continued, "I’m sick of living in a house that feels like it’s about to collapse, and I feel stifled because my grades won’t go up," lamenting, "If I die anyway, my food costs will go down and things would probably be better."
In her early twenties at the time, Lee wrote a long message of consolation to the student who had posted the question. Lee said, "When I was a student, whenever things were hard and painful, I often thought about wanting to die, and it seemed like the only solution," and added, "But someone once told me that 'thinking about wanting to die means you are that attached to your own life.'"
She continued, "There are people who just live carelessly and still get by, so wouldn’t it be unfair if you, who sincerely wish for your life to turn out well, ended your life earlier than those people?" She then emphasized, "You may feel overwhelmed right now because of conflict with your parents and your family’s financial situation, and you may feel like you’re at the very bottom of the world, but never forget that the most precious person in the world is yourself."
She went on to say, "Succeed. Don’t be too bound by the gate called university, and go to a university where you can live far away from your parents," adding, "That’s what I did. Once you live apart, the resentment slowly fades. You can earn money one way or another. Please, never despair over money, conflict with your family, or your grades at school, and love yourself just the way you are."
Internet users who saw this reacted by saying, "You can feel that she is genuinely worried," "The dignity of a top instructor," "A true teacher," and "She once said she herself came from a difficult background and studied fiercely, chewing on coffee beans, and it really feels like she gave this advice from the bottom of her heart."
As the post came back into the spotlight, on the 5th Lee captured and posted a related article on her Instagram story, writing, "Naver... To summon a post from 21 years ago that I had forgotten about... I hope that person grew up well after overcoming those worries 21 years ago, and that our paths might cross again."
Meanwhile, this accidental exposure of answers is known to have occurred when the account used by Naver to register or modify people information suddenly became linked to Knowledge iN-related content. After controversy arose, the Naver account in question was deleted, and all links to the Knowledge iN site were removed from Naver’s people information pages.
Naver stated, "The Knowledge iN service team is re-examining all related settings and the entire connection process with other services to ensure that the same issue never happens again," and added, "We deeply apologize for causing significant inconvenience and concern."
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