[Sportschosun Kim Joon-seok] As the controversy over RESCENE member Woni's use of the expression "museubno" continues, comedian Kim Si-deok, who is from Gyeongsang Province, said he stood by his belief that "it is wrong to lump dialect in with an Ilbe frame."
On the 5th, Kim Si-deok posted on his social media account, "Why is the world so 'museubno'?" referring to the recent controversy surrounding Woni.
He began by saying, "I was born and raised in Gyeongsang Province and used the dialect without thinking much about it. But after I started making money by speaking in the Gyeongsang dialect, I looked up a great deal of material and books about the dialect."
He added, "The expression 'museubno' used by RESCENE's Woni is a correct interrogative ending." He continued, "There were times when people would try to brand anyone who used the '-no' dialect ending as Ilbe, so I used to answer back with 'Mora-no,' 'Wae ikano,' and 'It is not Ilbe.'"
Kim Si-deok also explained the diversity of the Gyeongsang dialect. "If you take 'Do you have it? Do you not have it?' as an example, North Gyeongsang says 'itnikkyo? eobnikkyo?' while South Gyeongsang says 'iseu-yeo? eobseu-yeo?'" he said. "It also differs from city to city, such as Busan, Ulsan, and Daegu, and even by area, such as Masan, Changwon, and Jinhae District. The dialect used by the older generations is also different from the way younger generations speak."
He went on to say, "The intonation remains, but words and sentence endings are gradually disappearing, and dialect is one of our country's valuable cultural assets." He added, "If a singer from the younger generation uses the dialect of people in their 50s and 60s, branding that speech as 'Ilbe' just because the speaker is younger is really 'so wrong!'"
Kim Si-deok, who is from Ulsan, previously won wide popularity for his distinctive Gyeongsang dialect performances through the hit KBS2 comedy segment "Park Jun-hyung's Everyday Dialect" on "Gag Concert."
Earlier, Woni released a video on the YouTube channel "Hello, I'm Woni. Please take care of me," in which she visited the hometown house of Japanese member Minami.
While moving through a dark space in the video, she used the expression "museubno," which later sparked heated debate online.
Some internet users defended Woni, saying the phrase was simply a natural Gyeongsang dialect expression because she is from Geoje in South Gyeongsang Province. Others raised concerns, arguing that it resembled the tone used on online community Ilbe Storehouse.
The controversy spread into politics as well. Former RKP leader Cho Kuk argued that "Ilbe mechanically attaches '-no' to standard Korean words," while Reform Party leader Lee Jun-seok criticized the backlash, saying, "They are trying to judge ideology from a single word ending." He added that despite linguists explaining that the southeastern dialect ending '-no' is used not only for questions but also for exclamation and inner monologue, the stigmatization continues.
narusi@sportschosun.com
