Huimang and Saerom, the two big shots of the presidential office

“You are my style my style / I can feel it without saying / from head to toe you are my style.” This is a lyric from “My Style,” a 2015 debut song by iKon. With sweet sentimental lyrics, the song was a hit among global youngsters. For those too old to understand such jumbled lyrics, the song can be summarized as “you are my cup of tea” is in a nut shell.

“My style” as the newly coined word is literally a compound of taste and bullseye in Korean. The word is used when coming across a taste that matches perfectly or a person who suits to oneself 100 percent. For instance, the relationship between President Park Geun-hye and her confidante Choi Soon-sil who meddled the entire nation may become an in-depth case study in terms of “my style.” Indeed, not only did Choi interfere with state affairs, but also intervened in even the tiniest details in Park’s daily life.

When moving into the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae in February 2013, President Park brought two Jindo dogs, which were gift from her neighbors. The dogs became famous when Park gave a lame joke that “the real big shots in Cheong Wa Dae is Jindo dogs” during a luncheon with ruling Saenuri Party leadership when the “Jeong Yoon-hoe document” issue hit the headlines in 2014. But as a matter of fact, it was Choi who “reviewed” the “Jindo dog.hwp” file prepared by Park’s aides and also named the dogs as “Huimang (hope)” and “Saerom (new).” The prosecution has revealed that Choi not only took care of Park’s fashion and beauty, but also went further and selected the colors of the wallpapers at the president's residence. No wonder the public was dumbfounded when they found out that the president handed over the final decisions on even her petty lifestyle to Choi, a non-expert. Were they really “soulmates?”

Taste is indeed a very private emotion. A unique characteristic is built upon a lifestyle holistically designed by one, such as decorating a house or what to wear. Therefore, it can be said that when one has no taste, he or she has no identity either. Everyone is curious to find out the mental physics of Park who blocked communication with others but was entirely dependent on Choi’s tastes and judgements. What Park truly needs right now is time for self-examination; time to search deeply for her own taste and inner thoughts.