A recent episode of Pinggyeyo with Park Bo Young as a guest has gone viral for an unexpected controversy. During the show, Park Bo Young had been sharing about a time she went to a theme park with her nieces and nephews.
Scene with the controversial subtitle. | Pinggyeyo
As they talked, Park Bo Young and the MCs Yoo Jae Suk and Jo Se Ho all referred to a baby stroller with the Korean word “yumo-cha.” Later on, in the subtitles, the editing team changed it to “yua-cha” instead. The word “yumo-cha” can be interpreted to have sexist connotations, as “yumo” refers to mothers or nannies. On the other hand, “yua” is more neutral, as it means “child” or “baby.” “Cha” simply means car or mobile unit.
In 2018, the Seoul Foundation Of Women and Children had petitioned for the word “yumo-cha” to be changed through a “gender equal dictionary.” It called for gender equality, as the original term reinforces the subconscious assumption that prams would be pushed by women, ergo, children would be taken care of by the mothers.
Some wondered why the editing team purposefully made the change in the subtitles. The original term “yumo-cha” was used for a long time up to recent years, and the purposeful change was uncomfortable to a portion of viewers. This resulted in the video gaining over 88,000 dislikes.
The number of dislikes on the video. | theqoo
Although none took issue with the way Park Bo Young and the MCs had originally referred to it as “yumo-cha,” a bulk of the dissent came from people who wondered why the subtitling team seemed to support what they thought of as an unnecessary change.
You can check out the original video below.
