Parody in politics

Parody in politics or political parody (정치적인 패로디) usually attracts people in Korea. Politicians are often the object of TV gag shows like "Gag Concert" of KBS TV2.

Kim Yong-min, a candidate in the Seoul suburban constituency and co-host of podcast “Naggomsu (나꼼수)” or “I am a Petty-Minded Creep” (나는 꼼수다) is a good example. At first, his Internet podcast became the center of political controbersies. But after the public furor over the raunchy, sexist jokes in his past, he was forced to leave the race for the National Assembly. If he quit the candidacy in the April 2012 general election, the election would probably have ended with an opposition victory as predicted.

However, Kim cried in a video clip and pledged he would atone for his mistakes all his life. But in reality, he was trying to strike back. Three days before the election, he appeared at a Naggomsu off-site rally at the City Hall Plaza. His supporters performed group gymnastics to create the letter “Jo,” which is part of a curse word meaning the male sex organ. Kim Yong-min held a parade with other hosts of the popular podcast. One of the members went up to the podium and hurled insults, pointing in the direction of the Blue House. Kim Yong-min was standing next to him.

Key words
parody, Internet podcast, freedom of speech, insult, actual malice

Political influence of Parady
In the April 2012 general election, Nakkomsu was the center of controversy because its main personality Kim Yong-min ran for the election and Nakkomsu largely supported the opposition group candidates across the nation.

On the other hand, Popular comedian Kim Gu-ra has quit all the TV programs he hosts after an old audio clip went viral in which he referred to the so-called comfort women forced into sexual slavery by imperial Japan as "prostitutes."

The one-minute audio clip came from an online radio program he hosted back in 2002 on the popular political parody website Ddanzi Ilbo. At that time, Kim reported on an incident where 80 prostitutes at a brothel in southeastern Seoul rented buses to visit the National Human Rights Commission to protest against an indiscriminate police crackdown.

Kim was heard to say, "We haven't seen a sight like this, where 80 prostitutes board two buses, for quite a long time, probably since the comfort women or something like that." When the clip spread on the Internet, websites of popular TV programs Kim hosted were filled with thousands of comments criticizing the comedian. As controversy intensified, Kim issued a statement through his agency saying he would immediately quit the eight entertainment programs he hosts.

Parady v. Freedom of Speech
According to Wikipedia article on Parody, parody is a frequent ingredient in satire and is often used to make social and political points. Examples include Swift's "A Modest Proposal", which satirized English neglect of Ireland by parodying emotionally disengaged political tracts. Recently, The Daily Show and The Colbert Report, which parody a news broadcast and a talk show to satirize political and social trends and events. Some events, such as a national tragedy like 9.11 Terror, can be difficult to handle.

Sometimes the politician ridiculed by the parody performers filed suit on account of defamation or slander. But the Korean courts would not punish such insulting parodies insofar as the parodies toward public figures did not represent any actual malice.