Yoo Si-min: "Media's Use of Titles Like 'Lee Jae-myung Assaulted/Attacked' Goes Beyond Acceptable Limits"

"Not a legal term, so inappropriate
Should be considered 'Attempted Murder Suspect'"

On the 25th, at Yonsei University Kim Dae-jung Library in Mapo-gu, Seoul, Yoo Si-min, chairman of the Roh Moo-hyun Foundation, is delivering the opening address at the joint academic conference held by the Roh Moo-hyun Foundation and Kim Dae-jung Library to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the passing of former Presidents Kim Dae-jung and Roh Moo-hyun, and the 1st anniversary of the Panmunjom Declaration. Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

Author Yoo Si-min directly criticized on the 9th that the media’s ‘headline profiteering’ in covering the political terror incident involving Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, has gone too far. He also criticized the media’s choice of words such as raider, assailant, and victim, which are not legal terms. Yoo said, “It is not so much the fault of individual reporters, but rather the legacy media, which is colluding with power, engaging in ‘headline profiteering’ in a specific way to pursue economic interests.”

On the same day, Yoo appeared on the YouTube program ‘Kim Eo-jun’s Humility is Difficult News Factory’ and said, “Countries with a long history of democracy have well-established terminology. Although it has appeared a lot in videos, strictly speaking, the (Lee Jae-myung assailant) should be regarded as a ‘suspect of attempted murder.’” He added, “Once someone is booked, they are a suspect; if indicted, they become a defendant; and if a final judgment is made, they are called the perpetrator. So, it is correct to write ‘suspect of attempted murder Mr. Kim’ for now.” He pointed out that words like raid, assault, and attack are inappropriate.

Regarding controversies such as ‘the weapon being a wooden chopstick’ and ‘laceration,’ he interpreted, “There is a military operation and deception tactic aimed at the public. It involves moving destroyers or troops elsewhere so that the enemy’s attention does not actually go to the place we are targeting. The (fake news) surrounding Lee Jae-myung can also be seen in this way.”

Yoo said, “The context hidden behind the text should not be related to the current government (ruling party), nor should there be any behind-the-scenes forces. It also carries the hope that the injury is not serious,” adding, “It is close to anti-intellectualism.”

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