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| Hong Joon-pyo / Yonhap |
By Jung Min-ho, Choi Ha-young
Political parties criticized main opposition Liberty Korea Party (LKP) leader Hong Joon-pyo for calling President Moon Jae-in's supporters "Moonslam" ― a term coined to ridicule them as "followers with blind faith."
"It is deplorable that the main opposition party leader belittled people of a certain faith and damaged national interests by using the term," ruling Democratic Party leader Choo Mi-ae said during a press briefing Wednesday.
At the LKP's New Year events in Busan and Ulsan on Monday, Hong accused President Moon of using his supporters' internet comments to consolidate his power and called them "fanatic Moonslams" ― the first politician to use the offensive word in public.
Spokesmen from other parties also told The Korea Times that Hong should apologize, saying his new habit of using the term is diplomatically risky and simply wrong.
"There is concern that his language use may cause diplomatic conflicts with Muslim-majority countries," People's Party spokesman Kim Chul-keun said. "He needs to apologize."
Justice Party spokesman Choi Suk said: "If a politician from other parties made the same mistake, the person would be forced to resign from his or her political career.
"But, by now, the public might have become numb to Hong's hate-filled language use. Nevertheless, it is embarrassing for our country."
Political experts also said that if the same thing happened in other developed nations, such as the United States, the consequences would be far more serious than here.
Korea has close relations with many countries where a vast majority of the people are Muslims. Some of the countries are key partners Korea relies on for its energy security and other reasons.
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