"In This Situation?" Despite the Democratic Party's Rejection of Conspiracy Theories... Cold Stares Toward Moon Jun-yong

Moon Joon-yong, son of President Moon Jae-in. [Photo by Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Eun-young] Since the news broke on the 17th about Moon Jun-yong, son of President Moon Jae-in, holding a solo exhibition, netizens have continued to respond coldly. Although the Democratic Party of Korea dismissed the conspiracy theory linking the "step 3 social distancing upgrade" as "fake news," online criticism accusing them of hypocrisy has not subsided.

Moon is holding a solo exhibition titled "Beyond the Gaze, Somewhere in Between" at Geumsan Gallery in Hoehyeon-dong, Jung-gu, Seoul, from the 17th to the 23rd. The exhibition features five works, including Inside and Outside.

Notably, Moon showcased his invention called "Augmented Shadow" at this exhibition. It is a device that implements augmented reality (AR) by detecting the position and angle of lighting with sensors and projecting a computer-generated virtual shadow image onto the real shadow.

This is Moon's first solo exhibition in eight years. His first solo exhibition was held at Gallery Godo in 2012, during President Moon's first presidential campaign. However, at that time, he was more known as "the president's son" than as a "promising young media artist," and since then, he has quietly participated in group exhibitions rather than solo shows.

However, Moon's ambitious eight-year effort to be recognized as an "artist" rather than just "the president's son" seems to be thwarted once again by the spread of COVID-19.

When news of Moon's solo exhibition was announced on the 17th, it quickly became a top trending search term online, and the Geumsan Gallery website temporarily crashed due to traffic overload.

On the 18th, the YouTube channel Garosero Research Institute (Gaseyeon) claimed, "After Moon's solo exhibition ends, social distancing will be upgraded to level 3," spreading a conspiracy theory.

YouTuber Kim Se-ui said, "Many expect that the level 3 social distancing will be implemented after the 23rd. Moon Jun-yong's solo exhibition runs until the 23rd." Other participants, Kim Yong-ho and lawyer Kang Yong-seok, also agreed, saying, "It is quite convincing."

Eunju Jo, Youth Spokesperson of the Democratic Party of Korea, is holding a press conference on the results of the Democratic Party Youth TF meeting on children aging out of care at the National Assembly Communication Office in Yeouido, Seoul, on the 6th.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

As netizens' interest in Moon's solo exhibition continued and political suspicions arose, on the 20th, the Democratic Party of Korea strongly condemned the situation, saying, "Stop this low-level yellow journalism behavior."

Jo Eun-joo, the Democratic Party's youth spokesperson, stated in a comment, "Raising conspiracy theories that distort the decision to upgrade social distancing to level 3 as if it were a private judgment by the president is a serious abuse of freedom beyond the media's rights."

She added, "In a crisis situation, spreading indiscriminate fake news and baseless conspiracy theories while abandoning social ethics is an immoral act that violates the 'basic duty of being human.' They should reflect and repent even now."

However, despite the Democratic Party's dismissal of the conspiracy theories, some netizens still respond coldly, calling it "hypocrisy" and "reckless behavior that fails to read the situation."

Especially as news reported record-high daily COVID-19 cases in the metropolitan area alongside Moon's solo exhibition, netizens' anger seems to be growing.

Some netizens criticized, saying, "Is holding a solo exhibition appropriate in this situation? No wonder conspiracy theories are emerging," "The Democratic Party needs to understand why conspiracy theories arose in the first place," and "Hypocrisy is uncontrollable."

Whether Moon, who has become the center of controversy again due to the "solo exhibition during this crisis," will publicly respond to the public's strict judgment remains to be seen.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.