By Kim Rahn
Lawmaker Kang Yong-seok’s tweets are causing a huge online stir after he denounced Park Geun-hye, the ruling Saenuri Party’s strongest presidential candidate, and other politicians in abusive language.
The messages by former Saenuri member Kang, posted on his Twitter at 12:52 a.m. on Sunday included: “Living in this world for more than 40 years, I learned that the most important thing is having influential parents. However hard we work in politics, we can’t catch up with Park Geun-hye who had powerful parents.”
Park, the party’s interim leader, is the daughter of former President Park Chung-hee. She has enjoyed public support and frontrunner status for the presidential election at the end of the year.
Kang added, “In North Korea, Kim Jong-un is the best” _ a critical comparison of Park’s bid for presidency with the North’s hereditary power succession over three generations.
He then targeted Hong Joon-pyo, former party leader: “I pity Hong Joon-pyo. Having worse parents than mine, he has lived eagerly to no avail. As Park takes power, he is unlikely to get a candidacy in the general election. He is a four-term lawmaker and was the party chairman, but he still has to study Park’s face.”
The controversial comments were erased soon from Kang’s Twitter account, but the postings captured by other bloggers have been spreading fast online.
Due to the extremely radical nature of the comments, bloggers are wondering whether Kang himself actually wrote them.
Later in the afternoon, Kang admitted to writing and removing the messages, saying he wrote them under the influence of alcohol.
“As a former member of the party, I wanted to say something as the party faces collapse. The way I expressed my opinion may be improper but it came from the bottom of my heart.”
He apologized for causing the stir, promising not to use Twitter after drinking or between midnight and 6 a.m.