Cho Kuk on New Work's 'Title Plagiarism' Controversy: "Noise Marketing by the New Party"

Published 25 Aug.2023 07:54(KST)

Updated 25 Aug.2023 07:57(KST)

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New Choice Party: "Reflect on Your Own Stealing Marketing First"

Former Minister of Justice Cho Kuk's new essay collection titled 'Dike's Tears' has sparked controversy due to its similarity to former lawmaker Geum Tae-seop's book title 'Dike's Eye,' prompting Cho to raise his voice, calling it "noise marketing by the new party."

On the 24th, Cho Kuk stated on his social media service (SNS), "The spokesperson of 'New Choice' (also known as 'Geum Tae-seop's new party') absurdly claims that my new book 'Dike's Tears' stole from former lawmaker Geum's book 'Dike's Eye,' and the media is spreading this," expressing his position.

Former Minister of Justice Cho Kuk. / Photo by Jinhyung Kang aymsdream@

Earlier, Kwak Dae-jung, spokesperson for the new party New Choice, posted on his SNS an article titled "Minister Cho Kuk's Moral Standards," raising plagiarism suspicions by saying, "Former lawmaker Geum wrote a book titled 'Dike's Eye.' Minister Cho is releasing another book titled 'Dike's Tears.'" He particularly pointed out that Cho Kuk himself wrote the recommendation for 'Dike's Eye.'

In response, Cho Kuk said, "The title of my new book was taken from a 2010 Hankyoreh column," adding, "I feel bitter and pitiful about the new party's noise marketing." He also shared a past column he wrote titled 'Dike is Crying.'

However, spokesperson Kwak rebutted on SNS, saying, "Minister Cho, please reflect on your own 'stealing' marketing. Anyway, you don't seem to understand what 'reflection' means."

He added, "While authors often decide book titles, publishers frequently do as well. Usually, several titles are recommended, and the final choice is the author's. Among countless titles, Minister Cho, who even wrote the recommendation for the book, chose that book's title as his own. How should we describe such a person?"