Jo Eung-cheon "Scared as Party Sentiment Shifts to One Side Due to Text Bombardment"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Chun-han] On the 10th, Cho Eung-cheon, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, criticized the 'text bomb' from the hardline supporters, which President Moon Jae-in referred to as a 'natural phenomenon,' saying, "The uniformity of opinions is appearing too severely."

When asked by reporters after the party meeting whether he agreed with President Moon's view on the text bomb, Rep. Cho said, "What is most frightening is that the party's official stance and the party members' opinions are being pushed to one side (due to the text bomb)."

Some interpret Rep. Cho's emphasis on the negative effects of the text bomb as a veiled criticism of President Moon's remarks. President Moon, in a Q&A session following his 4th anniversary special speech, said, "In the SNS era, expressing one's opinion through text messages is very natural and a normal phenomenon," citing the Blue House's national petitions and the demands of military personnel for improvements in military culture.

Rep. Cho explained the aftermath of the text bomb, saying, "Like the spiral of silence theory, when one feels their opinion is in the minority, they want to avoid isolation and ostracism, so they try to conform to the majority opinion and pretend not to hold a minority view."

Rep. Cho said, "If you don't conform, they become very violent and use a harsh tone," adding, "Even lawmakers have become like that, and most of the 700,000 party members do not express their opinions for fear of being isolated."

Regarding President Moon's comparison of the text bomb to the demands of military personnel, Rep. Cho said, "There is a slight difference and the point is somewhat different from conveying the difficulties of military life in the army."

Rep. Cho stated, "Honestly, no one is a good person when they are being cursed at," and added, "When I say I am hardened, it means I have become numb, but some things really dig deep. People experiencing it for the first time would be very surprised."

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