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Ex-pro gamer Hong denies rumor on far-right website

Former professional gamer Hong Jin-ho on Wednesday denied rumors that he was a member of “Ilbe (Daily Best),” a controversial far-right online media outlet.

A controversy erupted after Hong posted a review of the movie “The Attorney,” inspired by the late President Roh Moo-hyun during his days as a human rights lawyer, via Twitter.

“I just watched ‘The Attorney.’ I was really immersed in the film. It was as fun as many people had said it was,” he wrote. “Except that it was a little sseup sseul jjireung jjireung.”

Through the use of the word “jjireung jjireung,” netizens speculated that Hong was a user of Ilbe, a humor-centered community website well-known for its members’ far-right political viewpoints. “Jjireung jjireung” is a slang word used by Ilbe members to deprecate the Jeolla region, traditionally an opposition stronghold.

In response to the controversy, he defended himself by saying that no political intentions or opinions were behind the use of the word.

“I didn’t know much about Ilbe. I’ve never visited the site. I don’t want to mess with that,” Hong wrote on Twitter.

Meanwhile, as Hong came under attack, his acquaintance Lee Doo-hee -- a former hacker -- on Wednesday unveiled a dictionary he developed which is specially designed to filter so-called “Ilbe vocabulary.”

"Hong! I will let you know once the making of (the dictionary) is completed. I’m developing an automatic filter for Ilbe vocabulary,” Lee tweeted Hong. 

(khnews@heraldcorp.com)