For the past few months, Park Geun-hye, head of the Saenuri Party who emerged victorious in last week’s parliamentary elections, has not ceased making headline news in Korea. This week was no exception, as Park sent a budget price wreath of chrysanthemums to commemorate those who led the April 1960 student revolution. While her budgetary decision, let alone floral arrangement might no have been the best of the bunch, many netizens slammed cheapskate-Park for her insensitivity, while others were not-so-surprised of her move, being the daughter of dictator Park Chung-hee.
From Gyeong-Hyang News:
Buzz online with controversy over ‘cheap wreath’ from Park Geun-hye
A controversy is developing online over the wreath sent by the Saenuri Party’s Park Geun-hye, Head of the Emergency Measure Committee. This wreath appeared at the commemoration event for the 4.19 day [April 19th 1960, when the pro-democracy demonstration occurred; a major day in the democratic history of South Korea], but Park’s wreath lacked the ‘commemoration’ sign, and was alleged to be cheaper compared to the other wreaths at the occasion. Park herself was unable to attend to the event due to other schedules taking priority.
There were many wreaths on display at the entrance of the 4.19 Commemoration Park in Suyu-ri, Seoul where the event in remembrance of the 4.19 movement was held, on the 19th of April 2012. Along with Park’s, wreaths came from many prominent political figures such as Eui-Hwa Jung (acting proxy for the role of Chairman of the Congress, following resignation of Park Hee-Tae), Moon Sung-geun (proxy for the role of Representative of Democratic Union Party, after resignation of Han Myung-sook) and Son Hak-kyoo (former representative of Democratic Party). There were also ones sent from Prime Minister Kim Hwang-sik, Superintendent of Education Gwak No-hyun and Mayor of Seoul Park Won-sun.
These wreaths were made to the state’s standard dimensions, bearing the ‘commemoration’ sign on their round front, while Park’s wreath was different; it was a three-level wreath without the ‘commemoration’ sign but with her name ‘Park Geun-hye , the Head of the Emergency Measure Committee of Saenuri Party’. The price of a state-standard one is known to be around 600,000 Won, while Park’s is known to cost around 100,000 Won.
Park did not come to pay her respect to the April 19th Memorial Grave, but the floor leader Hwang Woo-yeo came instead. The reason for Park’s absence was the attendance to the plenary session of the Emergency Measure Committee that day. There were contrasting reactions from the netizens: some said that it was probably a simple mistake made by her aide, while others regarded it as disregard for the victims of April 19th demonstration. Especially glaring was the comment that mentioned her father Park Chung-hee, the former President; the comment read “the 4.19 revolution drove the dictator Syngman Rhee, and her father trampled over the democracy that revolution brought, so there’s no reason she would be delighted about the event.”
Comments from Daum:
xris:
Of course! The dictator’s daughter would never be fond of the April 19th demonstration!
대한국민:
Must have been sent from the Pro-Parks [supporters of Park] with a shitty historical awareness
정의로:
Park’s father was Park Chung-hee: a thief, someone who framed any dissents as commies, and a murderer. Her uncle, Chun Doo-hwan, was also a murderer. Her other uncle, Young-sam, was full of bluff but ended up driving the country down the drain. She also has a brother named Myung-bak who is the most notorious gae-dok conman. So your wrongdoing’s no big deal, Geun-hye. Your family has been continuously inspecting the public, so you say it is needless to talk about it, girl of stolen goods? Surely the family tradition of notoriety wouldn’t go away so easily. Just keep on doing as you’ve done so far. What’s the deal about rapes and plagiarism of papers. Because when you compare them to what runs in Park’s family it’s no biggie… Just ignore them… This is a Republic of Korea, full to the brim with dogs who voted for you…
RiVerPheoNix:
This is so typical of her, Park Geun-hye. Her house was built to be freaking grand by the Gangnam-gu office, and they planted trees around it to hide the inside and stuck up CCTVs. And she’s so stingy about sending a wreath for 4.19. ke ke ke ke A person like you are a presidential candidate. Talk about leopard changing its spots. [Translated word-to-word, ‘talk about a dog stopping shitting.’]
핫초코렛:
[There are] comments that side with her…… ㅠ.ㅠ This is the sad fact about this country at the moment, which doesn’t care a thing about dishonoring the deceased patriots.
섭씨0도:
It would be awkward to say that it was the aide’s mistake… The 4.19 commemoration event might just disappear if Park becomes the President
ㅋr프ㅋr:
It’s difficult to hide one’s roots – she is after all daughter of the dictator who was in the pro-Japanese imperialist (= commie) Nam-ro Party [short of South Choseon Labor Party, the former Communist Party in the South Korea established in 1946, and then fell apart following Korean War in 1950]! It’s surprising that she even managed to offer that damn thing just for the sake of formalities for April 19th, the symbol of democracy -_-
됐소:
The aide must have pocketed in the middle at least 500,000 Won…
무아:
Bitch
kkk8760
Soooo cheap!!
알이즈웰:
Is it a fault with delivery that the wreath was a cheaper kind? But is it the aide’s mistake that it was lacking the ‘commemoration’ sign?
미루:
Park Geun-hye never attends the 4.19 commemoration event. Lee Myung-bak never attends the 5.18 commemoration event remembering the demonstration at Gwangju. This is the standard of the Korean President and of the candidate for presidency.
라이너스:
Honestly speaking, would Park ever be in favour of April 19th?? It’s just for the sake of public sentiment that she cares for the event, even though she doesn’t want to…
Bari:
It is as expected of the daughter of Park Chung-hee, who grappled the regime with the coup-d’état on the May 16th, which upturned the 4.19 revolution with swords and guns, and opened up a period of dictatorship. She is frank with her identity.
개뼉다귀가된신라:
What’s all the fuss? She did that because she was so poor and had no money. All she had were stolen properties
초롱이:
Does she know what day April 19th is…?? ke ke ke ke It’s just exactly her standard of things…
이플:
The problem’s not that it’s cheap… The problem is that it lacks the sign saying commemoration… -_-
정도:
People are so nosy with everything
백여쉬:
What’s the use of expensive wreaths???? ㅡ,.ㅡ That’s all just a waste… Wreaths… Here’s someone who’d like to see the conventions of [offering] wreaths vanish
