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What was Pres. Park doing when ferry Sewol was sinking?

Posted December. 08, 2016 07:53,   

Updated December. 08, 2016 08:22

한국어

There are media reports claiming that President Park Geun-hye spent more than 90 minutes to get her hair done by a famous hairdresser on the day of the fatal Sewol ferry incident two years ago. A television news program reported that the hairdresser did the president’s hair in the morning but had to redo it in the afternoon to make the president’s hair look less tidy for her visit to the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters. The presidential office Cheong Wa Dae explained that two hairdressers stayed there for about one hour form 3:20 p.m. on the day and took 20 minutes to take care of the president’s hair. Many citizens, particularly those with children, are angry about the president spending time getting her hair done while a ferry carrying more than 300 high school students was sinking, whether it took 90 minutes or 20 minutes for the hairdo.

On the day of the ferry sinking, President Park ordered her staff at 3:00 p.m. to arrange her visit to the disaster control tower and left Cheong Wa Dae at 4:30 p.m. The 90 minutes coincides with the 87 minutes during which the hairdressers took care of the president’s hair and makeup. Cheong Wa Dae claims that President Park received written briefings from her senior secretaries for political and diplomatic affairs, meaning that she read the papers while getting her hair done. If she spent nearly 90 minutes of the seven mysterious hours of her absence from work, we wonder where and what she was doing for the remaining five hours and a half.

There have been wild speculations and rumors about her having personal affairs in secret, holding a cult ritual or undergoing a plastic surgery during the seven hours in question. During her second public apology, President Park had to deny in person that she had a shamanistic ritual. Two military nurse officers who served at the presidential office held news conferences as if they had been coordinated, denying that the president underwent any surgery on that day. It seems that only Cheong Wa Dae does not know such belated denials end up amplifying suspicions. Lee Yeong-seok, the deputy head of the Presidential Security Service, told the National Assembly on Sunday that Cheong Wa Dae had no visitors from the outside on the day of the ferry disaster. However, what he said proved a lie because the hairdressers visited the presidential office.

Although the ruling Saenuri Party’s non-mainstream faction asked opposition parties to not include the seven hours in question in the motion for the president’s impeachment to secure more votes in favor of the proposed impeachment, only to be rejected by the opposition parties, which stated that President Park violated the Article 10 of the Constitution which stipulates, “It shall be the duty of the state to confirm‎ and guarantee the fundamental and inviolable human rights of individuals.” While the opposition parties have to figure out ways to increase votes in favor of the presidential impeachment, the missing seven hours is an important issue of nonfeasance of the head of the state at critical moments.