“No Handshake with Representative Jeong” Sparks Controversy
Poll Concludes in About 4 Hours with 94.6% in Favor
Choi Minhee, Chair of the National Assembly Science, ICT, Broadcasting and Communications Committee. Photo by Kim Hyunmin
Choi Minhee, a lawmaker from the Democratic Party of Korea, was forcibly removed from 'Jaemyeong's Village,' a fan cafe dedicated to President Lee Jaemyung. She is the third person to be expelled, following Representative Jeong Cheongrae and Assemblyman Lee Seongyun.
The trigger for the expulsion was a video of President Lee Jaemyung departing for his state visits to Singapore and the Philippines, released the previous day through KTV Imagine (KTV's YouTube channel). KTV, a cable TV channel run by the Korea Policy Broadcasting Foundation under the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, mainly covers news about the president and the Blue House.
Supporters of Representative Jeong noticed that a handshake between President Lee and Representative Jeong was missing in a 3-minute and 3-second “unedited full video” uploaded by KTV. They raised the issue on the Ddanji message board, operated by YouTuber Kim Eojun, claiming it was an “intentional omission.”
In the actual video, handshakes between President Lee and Minister of the Interior and Safety Yoon Hojoong, Floor Leader Han Byungdo, and Chief of Staff Kang Hunsik are shown, but there is no footage of President Lee shaking hands with Representative Jeong. After concerns were raised, a post appeared around 12:00 p.m. on the Ddanji message board under the username “Choi Minhee (Namyangju-gap)” stating, “KTV Imagine, fact-checking in progress. This is Choi Minhee.”
The author of the post explained, “It is difficult for the party leader’s office or the party’s official organization to intervene in matters like this, so our office is verifying the facts.” Assemblywoman Choi is the chairperson of the National Assembly Science, Technology, Information, Broadcasting and Communications Committee.
In response, the manager of Jaemyeong's Village posted a poll for Choi Minhee's expulsion just 30 minutes later. The manager questioned why the absence of a handshake in a presidential channel video was being made into an issue when it was not even the party leader’s channel. The manager explained, “KTV Imagine is clearly a channel for presidential video records,” and added, “Naturally, it focuses on the president.”
Upon hearing about the poll, “Choi Minhee (Namyangju-gap)” responded again, saying, “First, verifying the facts should come first,” and added, “There are people who are in too much of a hurry, talking about abuse of power, threats, or expulsion from somewhere. Calm down.”
Nevertheless, the poll proceeded as planned. Over approximately 3 hours and 50 minutes, a total of 1,328 votes were cast, with 1,256 in favor-an overwhelming approval rate of 94.6 percent. Only 72 votes, or 5.4 percent, were against her expulsion.
Twenty minutes later, Assemblywoman Choi posted again on the Ddanji Ilbo message board, explaining, “The close-up filming team apparently failed to capture the handshake with Representative Jeong,” and added, “KTV does not belong to the pool, so it only uses its own footage. In the video production process, they tried to show the handshake as a close-up, which resulted in Representative Jeong not appearing.”
Afterwards, numerous comments appeared on the Jaemyeong’s Village cafe expressing sentiments such as, “It is hard to understand why the chairperson of the National Assembly Science, ICT, Broadcasting and Communications Committee is causing unnecessary controversy and only responding to pro-Lee support groups.”
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