South Korean Photographers Demand Police Investigation After Politician Calls Them ‘Hyenas’ in Chatroom

A leading South Korean politician is facing fierce backlash from the country’s media after referring to photojournalists as a “pack of hyenas” in an online chatroom — an insult that has prompted a formal police complaint from press photographers.

Representative Choi Min-hee is a South Korean politician and senior member of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), serving in the country’s National Assembly. She has sparked outrage in South Korea after sharing an image of working press photographers in a group chat and making disparaging comments about the photojournalists.

Last week, Min-hee uploaded photos of photographers covering DPK events to a KakaoTalk group chat room for local party members in Namyangju, a city in South Korea. In the post uploaded to the chat room, which had over 500 participants, Min-hee referred to the photographers in the image as a “pack of hyenas.”

“These are journalists from media outlets with access to the National Assembly,” Min-hee writes in the post, according to numerous South Korean news outlets. “They’re doing this to capture divisive footage somehow.”

Min-hee’s disparaging post about South Korean photographers quickly spread online, sparking an angry backlash from members of the press. Amid the uproar, she held a press conference at the National Assembly on Wednesday and apologized for her remarks. However, the Korean Photographers Association has nonetheless decided to file a police complaint against Min-hee for disparaging photographers as a “pack of hyenas.”

‘Photographers Do Not Exist for ‘Politicians’ Preferences’

The Korean Photographers Association says the politician’s remarks demean journalists, undermine legitimate press scrutiny of those in power, and cross the line from acceptable criticism into defamatory accusations.

“Condemning legitimate reporting activities as political divisiveness and ridiculing journalists by comparing them to animals is a clear insult to media professionals and an inappropriate act with potential for defamation,” the Korean Photographers Association writes in a statement to Wednesday, according to national news outlet Cho Sun Daily.

“Photographers do not exist to capture scenes that suit politicians’ preferences. They exist to monitor power through the eyes of the public and record history. Criticism of the media is free, but insults and baseless accusations against reporters cannot be justified.”

The association says the photographers pictured in Min-hee’s post have suffered significant emotional distress and humiliation as a result.

“We have finalized the decision to file a complaint with the police to prevent infringement on our members’ rights,” the Korean Photographers Association adds. “Photographers whose faces were exposed in the photos are currently experiencing severe humiliation and self-loathing, struggling to the point of being unable to continue their work.”