Blood testing of Park Geun-hye as ‘Gil La-im’

Blood testing of Park Geun-hye as ‘Gil La-im’. November. 17, 2016 07:19. by 정성희기자 shchung@donga.com.

Not a few people burst into laughter upon hearing that President Park Geun-hye used "Gil La-im" as alias for access to the VIP facility at Chaum Clinic located in affluent southern Seoul. Gil La-im is the name of the main character in the soap opera "Secret Garden" on SBS TV, which started airing around this time of the year exactly six years ago. While stuntwoman Gil La-im performs stunt for filming in the drama, Hyun Bin, a department store owner, shows up and tells people, “Don’t shout at her. To me, this person is Kim Tae-hee and Chun Do-yeon (famed actresses).” In late 2011, when the president was asked to pick her favorite between actor Cho In-sung who served in the Air Force, actor Hyun Bin who served in the Marine Corps and singer and actor Rain who served in the Army, President Park picked Hyun.

The Gil La-im fuss has spawned a string of parodies such as “Gil La-im, is this the best?” or “Since when has Gil La-im’s spirit been in abnormal condition?” which are the culmination of black comedy on the Choi Soon-sil gate. It is still unknown whether Park herself picked Gil La-im, or her friend Choi Soon-sil or the hospital opted for it at random. However, some critics say that the presidential office was a real case of "Secret Garden," because it was fascinated by Choi just like in the soap opera in which the spirits of male and female characters are switched while lightening.

The alias Gil La-im is just a comic episode to laugh it off, but a serious problem was that the president’s blood was tested at Chaum Clinic, a medical organization that was not authorized for it. The Health and Welfare Ministry’s probe has found that a military nursing officer at the presidential office’s medical unit collected Park’s blood sample, brought it to Chaum to have it tested there in Choi Soon-sil’s name in September 2013. It is believed that Chaum conducted the blood test to figure out what ingredients were deficient in her blood to make subscription of an injectable medicinal solution. This is evidenced by news reports that Park took placenta injection, which is known to be highly efficacious for treatment of postmenopausal symptoms and fatigue.

After news reports circulated that North Korean leader Kim Jong Il can brush his own teeth after he recovered from stroke, North Korea reportedly replaced all aides and staffers around Kim. South Korea was interested in knowing Kim’s weight because the health of the head of state is directly linked to national security. The U.S. collects urine of its president even during his overseas tour. If Park needed placenta injection, her doctor could have given her the injection. It is shocking to know that the president received the drug from a secret confidante, and as a result her blood was circulated and tested at an external clinic.