Ryu Jun-yeol’s Past “Ilbe” Controversy Re-examined Amid Dating And Cheating Scandal
Korean netizens are digging out past controversies of Ryu Jun-yeol.
On March 16th, an article titled “Wasn’t Ryu Jun-yeol an Ilbe before?” was posted on the Mom Cafe, a Korean online community, gathering much attention. In Korea, Ilbe is used to call users of the website 일간베스트저장소, a right-winged community where people mock and insult various groups in society under the excuses of jokes.
The controversy over Ryu Jun-yeol being an Ilbe began with a photo of a cliff hike he posted on Instagram in November 2015 with the caption “Way to run an errand for Mom’s tofu.”
There was no controversy when the photo was first posted, but on February 24, 2016, about 18 weeks after the post, speculations of him being an Ilbe spread around the online community and social media.
In the end, Ryu Jun-yeol released an official explanation that he had nothing to do with Ilbe. However, in the meantime, a person claimed that he used Ryu Jun-yeol’s email address to join the website but couldn’t as it has already been used. Ryu’s agency later requested a complaint and investigation into this netizen and malicious commenters. The controversy over Ryu Jun-yeol’s Ilbe has already been settled by his apology and his agency’s statement at the time, but is being dug up due to his recent scandal.
