Lisense's Won-i and rapper E-Sens caught in dialect controversy over Gyeongsang '~no' ending

Lisense debuted March 26, 2024. By late June, the girl group found itself at the center of a dialect controversy that spilled into politics and drew comment from veteran rapper E-Sens.

On June 28, leader Won-i—from Geoje, South Gyeongsang Province, and a promotional ambassador for Geoje City—responded to a field PD's remark "뭐야 무섭노?" on the group's own YouTube content with "무섭노. 조명부터 무서운데" ("It's scary. The lighting is scary first"). MBC Gyeongnam PD 김현지 (Kim Hyun-ji), who directed the documentary film 어른 김장하, posted on SNS calling the phrase an ilbe-style hate expression. Former 조국혁신당 (Cho Guk Innovation Party) representative 조국 (Cho Guk) then posted an "ilbe distinction guide" on his own SNS, pushing the dispute into political territory.

Kim PD's argument: "Gyeongsang language researchers have repeatedly pointed out that this usage is grammatically incorrect, yet young people are naturally using the ungrammatical '노,'" she wrote. "When one learns an expression is rooted in hate speech, the choice of whether to use it is a matter of attitude."

Commedian 김시덕 (Kim Si-deok), who is from Gyeongsan, pushed back immediately. "The '무섭노' Won-i of Lisense used is a correct interrogative sentence-final ending," he said. He grew up in Gyeongsan Province using dialect without a second thought. Framing a current-generation singer's use of a 50s-to-60s-era dialect form as ilbe? "영~ 파이다" (way off base). Netizens flooded in with materials from the National Institute of Korean Language's standard language map and linguists' historical records. The "~노" ending in Southeast Gyeongsang dialect is used broadly across interrogative sentences, soliloquy, and exclamatory monologue—not only in the ilbe context.

E-Sens, a 23-year career rapper from Gyeongsan, Gyeongbuk, weighed in on July 9 via Instagram Story. "Because of ilbe, even using my hometown dialect looks strange. This is ridiculous. 댓츠노노~" (That's not it~). He is, for the record, literally from the region whose dialect was being litigated.

The timing couldn't have been worse for Lisense. The group hit No. 1 on Melon's TOP100 chart on the night of July 8. Won-i held an emergency live broadcast after the chart result. "I sincerely thank the fandom Rimaine who gave us the title of 'number 1 singer'," she said. The group would "work hard and repay you with more confidence." She cried through the broadcast.