Naver Webtoon was eliminated from the webtoon contest over misogyny and officially apologized...Author, "Not Hate".

Naver Webtoon

The amateur webtoon "Isegye Pompongnam," which caused controversy over misogynistic expression, was finally eliminated from the Naver Webtoon contest.

According to Naver Webtoon on the 22nd, the grand prize "Ghost Hammer," the grand prize "One Strange Problem," and the reader's popularity award "Science High School Incident" were selected as the final winners of the second period of the "2024 World's Biggest Contest." In addition, there was no "Isegye Pompongnam" on the list of 10 other excellence awards.

' is a webtoon about a 39-year-old man who is betrayed by his wife and loses his fortune in the process of divorce before moving on to the other world.

The title, "Pong Pong Nam," is a newly coined term that refers to a man who married several men based only on economic conditions, and has drawn controversy as a misogynistic expression containing the prejudice that women use men for economic gain.

In the meantime, when it was revealed that "Isegye Pompongnam" passed the first screening of the largest competition on the ground on September 25, a boycott continued among female readers.

Naver Webtoon was not responding to such controversy, but advertised another webtoon and said, "I boycott 'Children's Friend Complex'. Suspicions have also emerged that he ridiculed the boycott by using phrases such as "buying with fire." Naver Webtoon explained that it was an "operational mistake," but the boycott by female readers intensified.

Since then, a coalition of 226 webtoon writers has called for a sincere apology and explanation from Naver Webtoon.

Naver Webtoon launched an official apology for the first time since the controversy broke out and came up with measures to prevent a recurrence.

Naver Webtoon said, "We sincerely apologize for causing inconvenience and concern to readers and webtoon creators due to recent issues related to the competition. We will set up an external advisory committee consisting of experts in the platform and cartoon industry and creation."

He also added, "We will cooperate so that the advisory committee can review the current operating policy of the entire content service, including the contest."

In response to such controversy, the author of the work, "Pong Pong," protested through the author's home, saying, "My cartoons are divorce cartoons that change the common female scent to the male one," and "Where on earth and what part was the hate cartoon?" He also argued that if his cartoons are hateful, "I hope you will drop all webtoons that make men criminals or make husbands trash to promote hatred against men (all media that are harmful to adolescents)."

Reporter Lee Yu Na from Digital News Team.