Park Geun-hye’s seven-hour mystery

Tomorrow marks exactly one year since former President Park Geun-hye was arrested. It is crushing to witness the truth behind the “seven-hour mystery after the Sewol ferry tragedy” being revealed before such point of time. On the day of the Sewol ferry tragedy, Park had a meeting with her three presidential aids and Choi Soon-sil at the presidential residence. The former president discussed countermeasures for the national disaster with Choi, the shadowy power, and people who are more like butlers rather than the staff of the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae.

The reason why former President Park consistently lied about her whereabouts on the day of the tragic accident was probably to hide the existence of Choi Soon-sil. The first orders made by Park on the day of the accident was 10:22 a.m., which is 7 minutes later than the announcement made by Cheong Wa Dae at that time. Even the time was fabricated to make an excuse for the president that she made orders before 10:17 a.m., which was the golden time for rescue and the time the last Kakao message of a victim, “The ship is tilting. I miss you, mom and dad,” was sent.

Queen Myeongseong, who took refuge in Chungju at the time of the Imo Military Revolt in 1882, returned to Hanyang after having a shaman designate a date. When the queen came back to the palace, she created a position for that shaman, called Jinryeonggun, meaning a truthful spirit. The power of Jinryeonggun, whom the queen would ask for advice when she was sick or when deciding important matters, shook the late period of the Joseon Dynasty. An Hyo-je, who was under an institution in charge of the media in the Joseon Dynasty called Saganwon and could not take the situation anymore, was exiled for making an appeal, criticizing Jinryeonggun severely, to the king.

Former President Park Geun-hye does not even have a loyal staff that can give her bitter advices. When it became controversial that Park stayed at her presidential residence on the day of the accident, former Chief of Staff Kim Ki-choon said, “She starts work from the moment she wakes up and leaves work when she goes to sleep.” If the president had indeed ‘started working,’ she should have answered then National Security Office director Kim Jang-soo’s phone call. It is not only unfortunate for the president but also for the nation as a whole that Park only had staffs who employ sophistry that the former president, who was out of contact, “worked in the bedroom of the presidential resident” rather than giving bitter advice.

Se-Jin Jung mint4a@donga.com