Park Tae Joon Controversy: 5m 23s Clip & Ilbe Accusations

SBS's Friday-Saturday drama 'Chief Kim' is achieving high viewership ratings, and the past 'Ilbe (Ilgan Best) controversy' involving the original webtoon artist Park Tae-joon is drawing renewed attention. Recently, the YouTube channel 'Yeouido Moonlae-dong' raised suspicions by referencing past webtoon scenes by Park Tae-joon.

The cast members mentioned a scene from Park Tae-joon's webtoon 'Lookism,' claiming that the protagonist looking at a stopwatch and saying "5 minutes and 23 seconds" is reminiscent of May 23rd, the date of the passing of the late former President Roh Moo-hyun. They also pointed out that the phrase "Rock Owling" written on a sign behind a speech bubble resembles "Buhyeong Rock" (Owl Rock), where former President Roh passed away, and criticized these elements as being intentionally inserted. The cast members argued that such content is rooted in an "Ilbe-style mindset" and that the artist likely drew it for amusement.

Regarding these past suspicions, Park Tae-joon had previously denied them on his blog, stating, "This is absurd. No matter how uneducated and lacking I may be, I am not the kind of person who would do such a thing with the deceased's photo, nor do I have the courage to."

This is not the first time Park's 'Ilbe controversy' has surfaced. In 2015, during the serialization of 'Lookism,' a scene depicting gangsters eating was accused of satirizing a photo of former President Roh Moo-hyun eating. In 2021, he faced controversy for using the laughter expression "Hwuhwuhwuh" in another work, which was similar to how former President Moon Jae-in was satirized.

This current controversy, coinciding with the success of the drama 'Chief Kim,' has led to related videos and posts resurfacing. Online comments are also intense, with reactions such as "I shouldn't watch Chief Kim," "If it's an Ilbe far-right ideology, it's out," and "It's hard to see the combination of 5 minutes 23 seconds and Buhyeong Rock as a coincidence." Consequently, there is much interest in how this will affect the viewership ratings of the drama 'Chief Kim.'