Roh Moo-hyun Foundation Director: "'Museobno' Is an Ilbe-Style Expression... Underground Culture Has Surfaced"

"Ilbe-Style Expressions Are Widespread... A Structural Issue"

Regarding the comment "Museobno" made by Woni, a member of the girl group Risene, Sujin Cho, an attorney and director at the Roh Moo-hyun Foundation, claimed that it is a phrase typical of the far-right online community Ilbe Storage (Ilbe).

Attorney Sujin Jo. YouTube Jang Yoonseon's Reporting Convenience Store

On July 7, Attorney Cho appeared on the YouTube channel "Jang Yunseon's Convenience Store Reporting" and remarked about the expression "Museobno," saying, "I am from Gyeongsang Province, and I do think it is an Ilbe-style phrase."

Attorney Cho stated, "Ilbe-style expressions themselves are extremely widespread," and added, "The Ilbe issue has been pervasive ever since adolescence and continuing into adulthood, which is a structural problem, but it seems that there is an excessive focus on individuals as if it were a personal issue, leading to (attacks) being targeted at them."

She continued, "A characteristic of Ilbe culture is embedding codes, knowingly or unknowingly, and then later members laugh among themselves," and explained, "That code, horrifically, originated from mocking and ridiculing the death of Roh Moo-hyun."

She further emphasized, "The Ilbe youths who gathered at the memorial service for President Roh Moo-hyun, and cases where this culture was used for promotion at Starbucks—this once underground culture has now surfaced in society," and added, "Rather than distorting it as if it is being exploited politically, we need to continuously point it out and correct it."

Girl group 'Lisene' YouTube screenshot

'Museobno' Comment Sparks Ilbe Controversy

This controversy began on June 28, when Woni said "Museobno" on her personal YouTube channel. In the video, Woni, who is from Geoje, South Gyeongsang Province, was shown visiting fellow member Minami's home in Japan. As they moved toward a darkened room, the PD filming them first said, "Museobno," and then Woni repeated, "Museobno. Even the lighting is scary."

Some people pointed out that this phrase brought to mind Ilbe-style expressions. Hyunji Kim, an MBC Gyeongnam PD who directed the documentary "Adult Kim Jangha," commented on July 1 on her X (formerly Twitter) account regarding the remark, saying, "I watched a well-received YouTube clip, but I was very upset to see a female idol and PD exchanging 'nono' in a friendly way."

Korean Literature Professor: "'Museobno' is an Exclamatory Gyeongsang Province Dialect... Different from Hate Speech"

However, experts have assessed that it is hard to view this as an Ilbe-style phrase. Professor Shin Ji-young of the Department of Korean Language and Literature at Korea University said on YTN Radio on July 8, "In the Gyeongsang dialect, the '-o' ending is used for exclamations. Compared with Seoul speech, where '-ne' is used, the dialect uses the exclamatory '-o' form," explaining, "If it can be replaced with '-ne,' this is simply an exclamatory sentence used by speakers of that dialect."

Professor Shin added, "If you watch the video, the PD says 'Museobno' first, and then Woni echoes it, but the PD is apparently not a native speaker of the dialect," and emphasized, "It is not the hateful 'nono.' The PD must have learned the dialect from Woni and used it, and the native dialect speaker responded in kind, so perhaps it was misunderstood."

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