What does 2찍 (i-jjik) mean? The Korean political put-down built from a ballot number

Over the last holiday, one of our editors' cousins posted a news link to the family group chat and heard two things the same day. An uncle asked, “Are you a 1찍?” An aunt asked, “Are you a 2찍?” The article was about the weather.

Stick the verb 찍다, “to stamp a ballot,” after a ballot number and you get a word that began on online message boards. Then, ahead of the 2024 general election, it came out of the mouth of the main opposition leader and made the TV news headlines. Today we trace how a number became a put-down, using coverage from across the spectrum.

Outlets describe the users a little differently but point the same way. Chosun Biz said it's used mainly by hardline Democratic Party supporters in online communities; Pressian said it's how some online critics of the Yoon government belittled people who voted for him. Going the other way, 1찍 (il-jjik) is used to demean Democratic Party supporters. Both work the same way, reducing a person to one number on a ballot.

• 설마 2찍 아니겠지?Surely you're not a 2찍?An actual remark in Incheon on March 8, 2024; an apology followed the next day
• 이 댓글들 다 2찍이네These comments are all 2찍.Example of the put-down as used in progressive-leaning communities
• 1찍들은 이래서 안 된다This is what's wrong with 1찍.Example of the put-down as used in conservative-leaning communities
• 우리 아버지를 2찍이라고 부르지 마. 그냥 우리 아버지야Don't call my father a 2찍. He's just my father.A protest inside a family
• 1찍, 2찍 등 상대 지지자를 비하하는 표현은 삭제합니다Terms that demean the other side's supporters, such as 1찍 and 2찍, will be removed.Example of a forum moderation notice

The ingredients are simple: ballot number 2 from the 2022 presidential race, and 찍다, “to stamp” a ballot. Herald Business summed it up in March 2024 as a term demeaning ruling-party supporters who voted for Yoon, No. 2 in that election. It reached the general public on March 8, 2024, when Lee Jae-myung, then leader of the Democratic Party, smiled at a diner at a restaurant in his Incheon Gyeyang district and said “surely you're not a 2찍.” The moment was streamed live.

The next day he wrote on Facebook that the remark was “extremely inappropriate” and that supporters of the other party are equally sovereign citizens. Park Jeong-ha, chief spokesperson of the People Power Party, called it befitting “the father of the 개딸,” Lee's hardline fans. Park Won-seok of the New Future party said it invited a politics of hate and exclusion. Kim Woo-young of a pro-Lee outside group told YTN the remark was wrong, while arguing the words of the president and ruling-party leader deserved scrutiny too.

One: it's short and sorts people fast. Two syllables and you've decided someone's politics, with their circumstances erased and only a ballot number left. Political commentator Park Sang-byeong told Herald Business that insulting nicknames for politicians work as a kind of label that demonizes the other side, and labels for voters have the same structure.

Two: it got a mirror image. Once 2찍 spread, 1찍 paired up with it. Han Dong-hoon, then interim leader of the People Power Party, said “let's not even think 1찍 or 2찍 in our heads,” and Kim Chong-in of the Reform Party said both major parties were at fault. Warnings came from several directions. The usage didn't go down.

Three: a major event raised the temperature. As the next section shows, online mentions climbed sharply after the December 2024 martial law declaration. Edaily reported that harsher labels, 내란견 (“insurrection dog”) and 배급견 (“ration dog”), rose alongside them.

In January 2026, Edaily checked four communities (TheQoo, FM Korea, Clien and DCInside) using the same search conditions. The article says this isn't a full count, and it doesn't give the exact start and end of the periods compared. Treat it as a trend, not a census.

Both words rose: 2찍 by about 2.7 times, 1찍 by about 2 times. In the same article, Professor Lee Jae-mook of Hankuk University of Foreign Studies said politics has to resolve this, and politics is still stuck. On September 19, 2026, President Lee Jae-myung asked supporters on social media to drop “hatred, sneering and emotional attacks” in favor of reasoned criticism, Wikitree reported, though he didn't name 2찍 specifically.

So 2찍 is a ballot number that became a name for people. Our editor's cousin no longer posts even the weather in the family chat. For other words that divide the camps, see 개딸 (gaettal) and 대깨문 (daekkaemun). And if you have a sharper definition, add it to the 2찍 entry in the dictionary.