'Brave Guys', a segment of the Korean comedy show, 'Gag Concert', was in the hot seat for broadcasting sententious words in an impolite way. Korea Communications Commission(KCC) and the public opinion were split in shutting down the program or not. Because of this, the producer of the comedy show directly provided an explanation and caught people's attention. Korea's political satire has a history. It has happened in the past, and the reaction of the government has changed as well.
  A long time ago, Korea's political satire was done by a few intellectuals, satirical cartoons in newspapers, and TV programs containing very weak satires. The authoritarian regime of Korea had punished those who expressed political criticism. As democracy in Korea grew, political satire received more freedom. Nowadays, the methods of political satire have expanded and the level of seriousness has increased. For instance, 'Yeouido Teletubbies' of 'SNL Korea', which is a cable TV program, begins by informing, 'We are going to talk about our governmental situation', and each character is directly related to a particular political figure. Also, it provokes laughing with chatting characters that remind people of politicians. In the radio talk show, 'I Am a Tricker', the panels make people smile bitterly for malicious language by revealing politicians' names and quotations.
  The present state of Korean political satire is widely discussed on TV, SNS or radio. Other than Korea, there are many styles of political satire varying from country to country. Global View interviewed different opinions about it.

By Park Se-ha
sh33@cbnu.ac.kr

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What do you think about Korean politcal satire?
 
How do people in your country express political satire?
  Kimberly(UK): In England, it is similar to Korea that there are many comedy satire shows and satirical newspapers. Also, people have total freedom of speech.
  Soran(China): In China, people usually criticize politics by Internet. A Chinese SNS program called "Waiver" is representative. Through it, people can share ideas and make comments about those ideas. However, there is no one who openly criticizes in person.
 
What do you think about the phenomenon of satire increasing at the end of one political period?
  Kimberly(UK): It seems very false. It could make people lose trust in them, and they would only care when they have a reputation to consider. At other times, they wouldn’t care.
  Dohee(Korea): As of now, there is no way to figure out the problem clearly. People who express extreme political satire as a part of their work might lose their jobs if they continue to satire or criticize. The public cannot rescue broadcasters everytime they lose their jobs.
  Soran(China): It is not a good phenomenon at all. It looks like they flatter authority. It should be eliminated as soon as possible.

What is the problem of Korean political satire and what could be its solution?
  Soran(China): Because there isn’t such a thing happening in China, I don't understand why people satirize their president in public. Too much satire can be poisonous.
  Dohee(Korea): I think Korea has a bad environment for criticism. Mentioning names directly is avoided, freedom is not fully guaranteed, and the degree of criticize is very weak. In addition, the most touchy problems are not managed. If entire freedom is available, more people will have sympathy and the politicians would realize their faults easier than before and they wouldn’t make the same mistakes.
  Kimberly(UK): There should be total freedom of speech and no punishment. Punishment is really bad and it makes me think of North Korea. If someone disagrees, it is also part of democracy. I think it is important to express to politicians to listen to people so that they can learn and respect people's opinions.