Jin Joong-kwon: "Lee Jae-myung's 'Robot Abuse' Controversy Is a Matter of Empathy Ability"

Lee Jae-myung, the Democratic Party presidential candidate, is examining a quadruped robot from a participating company at the '2021 RoboWorld' held on the 28th at KINTEX in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province.
[Photo by Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Hwang Sumi] Former Dongyang University professor Jin Joong-kwon criticized Lee Jae-myung, the Democratic Party presidential candidate, regarding the 'robot abuse' controversy, saying it is "basically a matter of empathy ability."

On the 31st, Jin posted on his social media (SNS), "It may be unavoidable to conduct experiments, but was it really necessary to release such a video?"

He previously explained, "When Boston Dynamics released a video of kicking a robot dog, there was a huge wave of protest and anger."

He added, "While developers naturally conduct harsh experiments by putting robots under severe conditions and abusing them, viewers inevitably get hurt by seeing a being that behaves exactly like a living dog being abused."

Jin also said, "Developers must block empathy themselves to complete the robot, but most ordinary people have empathy ability almost instinctively coded into them through socialization."

He analyzed, "Many people feel uncomfortable with Lee Jae-myung’s actions because the natural expectation that he would share the ability of empathy like themselves was suddenly broken, expressing their bewilderment."

Earlier, Lee attended the '2021 RoboWorld' held at KINTEX in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province on the 28th. When Lee toppled a quadruped robot from a participating company, some criticized the scene as 'too aggressive.'

In response, Lee strongly denied, calling it "poor reporting and distorted manipulation." On the 31st, he posted on his SNS along with overseas robot test videos, saying, "This is a test of the fallen robot’s recovery ability, yet I am being criticized for knocking it down."

He pointed out, "Some media outlets deleted the recovery scenes and only showed parts of the robot being toppled, calling it aggressive, which is fake news."

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