Novelist Gong Ji-young taking Twitter break

Popular novelist Gong Ji-young said she will not tweet for a while, fed up by abusive messages from the fans of political podcast "Naggomsu" (I am a petty trickster) who attacked her for criticizing the show's hosts over the "bikini controversy".

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"I won't tweet for a while. I'll take a good rest and come back after writing a new novel. Good luck!" she tweeted Thursday.

Gong is the author of "Dogani", the best-selling novel which was made into a sensational box-office movie last year featuring teachers' sexual assaults on deaf pupils. An influential tweeter with about 300,000 followers, Gong herself has been an avid fan of Naggomsu.

She has been under attack from other fans of the podcast after the novelist demanded an apology for sexually suggestive remarks in support of Chung Bong-ju, the currently detained host of Naggomsu.

Gong expressed frustration with the criticism from Twitter users, saying she could understand why entertainers, harassed by abusive comments, take their own lives.

"If placed in a situation like this, I feel entertainers could commit suicide", she said.

Naggomsu and its hosts drew criticism from women's rights groups after some of them called for support from women to upload pictures of themselves in bikinis to cheer up their detained colleague.

After paying a visit to Chung on Wednesday, she tweeted that he had sent a written apology to the women's groups. She also asked the groups to reveal the letter's content online.

In response to her tweet, fans of Naggomsu blasted her with comments such as "Are you happy now for making Chung apologize after going all the way to the prison to visit him?" and "You finally did it - making a suffering person apologize from prison. But don't forget who started all this. Stop interfering in Naggomsu matters".

Gong replied that she was simply delivering a message that Chung told her to announce on his behalf and expressed disappointment that fans of Naggomsu would react so negatively to it.

"I never expected I would be so condemned by his fans for saying something he told me to say. I'm dumbfounded", she posted as a reply to the criticism. She said that just because she took a different method didn't mean she didn't love them (the hosts of Naggomsu).

Following Gong's request, the 10-page letter was revealed by the women's groups to which Chung sent it. The detained host wrote: "I apologize on behalf of my co-hosts on the show for going to such a low level. I deeply regret the discomforting comments we made and will try to change".

He also added that he never received proper education on gender equality although he calls himself a liberal. "I hope this case is wrapped up as a 'nosebleed controversy' instead of the 'bikini controversy' sans sexual reference", he said.

By Yun Suh-young

ysy@koreatimes.co.kr