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By Bae Ji-sook
Staff Reporter
A conservative lawmaker and a progressive singer were locked in an ideological war that shut down their home pages Tuesday afternoon.
Song Young-sun of the governing Grand National Party opened fire at rock singer Shin Hae-chul, who drew jeers for defending North Korea's rocket launch.
In a radio program Tuesday morning, Song criticized the singer. She said Shin should ``be sent to the North and live under the Kim Jong-il regime.'' She said his recent praise of the launch was indiscrete and thoughtless. Shin immediately hit back at the lawmaker for ``working for the Japanese emperor.''
Song said, ``Theoretically, Shin may be right in his claim that nuclear weapons are the most effective self-defense tool against powerful and ruthless countries. However, the North has created the deadly weapon with money the South gave it to help poor and starving North Koreans. The Kim regime is threatening our economy, security and our spirit, but Shin has ignored these factors in his remarks.''
Shin immediately rebuked Song's argument on his Web site.
``What I said was I would like to visit the North. I support North Korea, but I don't back the dictatorial Kim Jong-il regime and I've never praised it. Praising North Korea is a separate issue from supporting the government.
Shin said Song should work for the Japanese Emperor, in an apparent reference to her attendance of an event marking the 50th anniversary of the Japanese Self Defense Force in 2004.
The singer said, ``While you were laughing and clapping before the Japanese force, my grandfather, who led the pro-independent movement in Osan, Gyeonggi Province during the Japanese colonial period and his fellows, cried out of shame in their tombs.''
Web sites of the two were shut down Tuesday afternoon due to heavy traffic.
The feud is the beginning of a controversial rocker-turned TV personality dispute with conservative groups over the rocket issue.
The conservative Right Korea and several other groups filed complaints against Shin with the Seoul Central Prosecutors' Office for violating the National Security Law. Bong Tae-hong, the head of the group, said, ``If we don't get rid of the cockroach now, it will run all over my house everywhere. Someone has to stop that.''
If convicted, Shin could be imprisoned for up to seven years. He said he didn't care about the ``legal attack.''
bjs@koreatimes.co.kr
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