Incheon City Council Speaker Who Posted "Police Nabu-raeng-i" on SNS Apologizes

Incheon Police Union Leadership to Visit City Council in Protest on the 4th

The delegation of the Incheon Police Workplace Council demanded an apology during a protest visit to Heo Sik, Chairman of the Incheon City Council (second from the right), on the 4th. Chairman Heo caused controversy by posting phrases such as "police riffraff" on his social media. Photo by Park Hyesook hsp0664@

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Hyesook] The chairman of the Incheon City Council, Heo Sik, who caused controversy by posting derogatory remarks about frontline police officers on social networking services (SNS), has officially apologized.

On the 4th, at a meeting where the Incheon Police Workplace Council chairpersons visited to protest, Chairman Heo expressed regret, saying, "I apologize for causing concern. I had no intention of belittling or defaming the police."

He added, "I did not write the post myself on SNS; I only shared it without much thought," and said, "I have deleted the problematic post and plan to stop using SNS altogether."

On the 27th of last month, Heo posted on his SNS regarding police officers opposing the Ministry of the Interior and Safety's establishment of a 'Police Bureau,' stating, "Arrest Moon Jae-in immediately. Use all possible means to detain him," and "If those police bastards act up again, punish them all criminally. This is a civil war situation."

Another post he shared included the content, "The police workplace council, like a union, was created in 2020. The one who made it was none other than Moon Jae-in. This is part of espionage aimed at destroying the country."

Regarding this, some pointed out that while Minister of the Interior and Safety Lee Sang-min is being criticized for likening police officers' collective actions to a coup, the metropolitan council chairman himself called the police "bastards" and described the launch of the police workplace council as "espionage," thereby inviting controversy.

Six chairpersons of the Incheon Police Workplace Council said during their meeting with Chairman Heo, "The posts on SNS have deeply hurt the hearts of over 7,000 Incheon police officers," and added, "It is deeply regrettable that someone representing 3 million Incheon citizens and the Incheon City Council holds such a narrow-minded view."

They also demanded a separate apology statement and requested that Heo express regret before the regular city council plenary session opening on the 30th, to which Heo responded, "I will do so."

Son Byung-gu, representative of the Incheon Police Workplace Council chairpersons, said, "It is fortunate that Chairman Heo has sincerely apologized even at this point," and added, "We will decide whether to file a lawsuit against Chairman Heo through a future chairpersons' meeting."

Meanwhile, the Democratic Party's Incheon City Party issued a statement on the same day, criticizing, "As the chairman of the city council representing Incheon citizens, this is an unacceptable and excessive expression," and "Threatening criminal punishment against a former president without any basis is a mockery of the people and a denial of democracy."

They continued, "Chairman Heo must immediately apologize to the citizens of Incheon and resign for irresponsibly making malicious remarks," and urged, "The People Power Party's Incheon City Party must promptly take appropriate measures against the outrageous remarks of its elected official."

The Democratic Party also emphasized, "Despite making such outrageous remarks, Chairman Heo has not apologized but instead made lame excuses, saying, 'I shared a post written by someone else because I disliked the police opposing the Yoon Seok-yeol government,'" and stressed, "We deeply regret Chairman Heo's outrageous remarks that caused unnecessary conflict amid serious visible tensions over the establishment of the Police Bureau."

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