Politician under fire for fanfic he wrote about singer IU

Politician and former web novelist Jang Ye-chan [NEWS1]

Jang Ye-chan, a 34-year-old candidate for head of the youth division of the People Power Party (PPP), came under fire after his past fanfic that allegedly depicts female singer IU in an inappropriate manner surfaced on Sunday.

His web novel, titled “Gangnam Huata” (2015-2016), is a web novel about an oriental medicine doctor who helps patients recover through sexual intercourse with him. The novel came under controversy as a female character depicted in the novel is a singer named Lee Ji-eun, “who is unable to sing high notes due to vocal cord nodules.” Lee Ji-eun is the legal name of Korean pop star IU.

Fans of IU and Lee Ki-in, another candidate for the PPP supreme council openly criticized Jang for his inappropriate sexual objectification of IU.

Jang dismissed the backlash on Sunday.

“If you have issues with [the contents in] a fantasy novel, will anyone be able to make any movie, drama, webtoon and novels?” said Jang, in his Facebook statement released Sunday, claiming that the controversy is a “political maneuver” by left-wing media.

BY CHO YONG-JUN [cho.yongjun1@joongang.co.kr]