Seoul: Buddhists, Protestants and Catholics united against the Park government

SOUTH KOREA

Seoul: Buddhists, Protestants and Catholics united against the Park government 

by Joseph Yun Li-sun
A thousand Buddhist monks took to the streets to denounce intelligence agency interference and criticise the president for her "inability to communicate with the public." On 16 December, a group of Protestant clergymen will begin ten days of prayer and hunger strike against the government. Tensions with the ruling party continue, as it attacks the Church in right-wing newspapers.


Seoul (AsiaNews) - Despite the wave of criticism and threats against the Catholic Church, even South Korean Buddhist monks took to the streets in Seoul yesterday to slam the country's intelligence agency and criticise President Park Geun-hye for her "inability to communicate with the public."
About a thousand monks called on the government to appoint an independent counsel to investigate the allegations against the National Intelligence Service (NIS) for interfering in the last presidential election. In addition, they want President Park to apologise for her "arbitrary handling of state affairs."

In so doing, the monks join the pro-democracy campaign launched a few months ago within the Catholic community in favour of "truth and justice" in national politics.
On 22 November, a priest from the Diocese of Jeonju got caught up in a controversy for criticising the government in his homily over its militaristic policies that in his view force North Korea to respond militarily.  

South Korea's establishment lashed out at Fr Park Chang-shin, accusing him of being an "enemy of the nation". He is currently under investigation on "various criminal charges."
Seoul Archbishop Mgr Andrew Yeom Soo-jung yesterday said that Catholics "must be involved in politics" but urged priests and consecrated people to act "upon careful consideration," without direct involvement.

The situation is very tense. Two days ago, a bomb scare forced the archdiocese to close Myeongdong Cathedral, with police deployed around the site to "defend" it from a demonstration of hundreds of army veterans, who pushed their way towards the building.

Right-wing papers and the ruling conservative Saenuri Party are still attacking the Church for its "interference".
Some Protestants also joined Catholics. A group of them said that they would hold a national demonstration on 16 December to demand Park's resignation, followed by a ten-day hunger strike with prayer in front of Seoul City Hall.
"In this regard," wrote the Korea Herald in an editorial, "religious organizations are advised to stay away from politics. When Korean society was undergoing a transition from dictatorship to democracy, it needed their active participation in politics. But Korea has already passed that stage."


At the same time, "President Park should not miss the message of the progressive religious groups. She should ensure that the whole truth about state agencies' systematic meddling in last year's elections is brought to light."

South Korea Retaliates Against Outspoken Catholic Priest with ‘Pro-North’ Accusations

http://globalvoicesonline.org/2013/11/28/south-korea-retaliates-against-outspoken-catholic-priest-with-pro-north-accusations/

South Korea has launched an investigation into a prominent Catholic priest after he made remarks calling on the country's president to resign over the state spy agency and Defense Ministry's widespread manipulation of online leading up to last year's elections. 

Park Chang-shin, a priest from the Diocese of Jeonju and a member of the Catholic Priests’ Association for Justice who has been outspoken in his criticism of the president over the electioneering scandal, is under fire for his comments involving North Korea. During one of his recent homilies (full text [ko]), he said that “it was natural for the North to attack Yeonpyeong island since the United States and South Korea held joint military exercises near its sea border” referring to North Korean attack against that border island in November 2010 which left two civilians and two marines dead.

This has become ammunition for the government to have him invested by prosecutors. South Korea's prime minister labeled Park's remarks as “destructive to the country and supportive of the enemy”, and the Defense Minister chimed in by calling him an “enemy of the state”. It is ironic because in that same homily, Park also said that he is “so sick of the ‘pro-North’ rhetoric that the conservative regimes love to adopt and abuse in order to clamp down on critics after branding them as pro-North Korea sympathizers.”

Since late summer of this year, Catholic leadership in South Korea, spearheaded by the Catholic Priests’ Association for Justice, has been vocal in condemning the government's systematic interference, regularly holding combinations of Catholic Mass and candlelight vigils in protest. The group has the history [ko] of resisting against President Park's father's dictatorial rule back in the 1970s and also were the ones who unearthed the torture and death of Park Jong-Chul, a milestone that lead to the June Democratic Movement in 1987.

The latest revelations about the electioneering scandal show that more 24.2 million tweets have been written by the spy agency and the Defense Ministry's Cyberwarfare Command to smear opposition candidates and praise current president Park Geun-hye. As more and more protests have sprung up, the president recently said that ‘she would not tolerate any attempts to cause social division and hurt national unity'.  

The Korean web has erupted with anger and concerns over the nation's freedom of expression and democracy in light of the treatment of Father Park. 

Prominent citizen journalist @mediamongu tweeted a photo of a special Mass organized by the CPAJ and celebrated by Father Park on November 22. Approximately 400 priests and Catholics reportedly participated in this protest: 

After the Mass and protest calling for President Park's resignation ended, priests and Catholics members took to the streets, holding candles in their hands and shouting ‘Step down, President!' 

Many net users expressed their fear over the fact that pro-North rhetoric has been used so frequently against progressive groups and critics of the government:   

South Korea Retaliates Against Outspoken Catholic Priest with ‘Pro-North’ Accusations

http://globalvoicesonline.org/2013/11/28/south-korea-retaliates-against-outspoken-catholic-priest-with-pro-north-accusations/

South Korea has launched an investigation into a prominent Catholic priest after he made remarks calling on the country's president to resign over the state spy agency and Defense Ministry's widespread manipulation of online leading up to last year's elections. 

Park Chang-shin, a priest from the Diocese of Jeonju and a member of the Catholic Priests’ Association for Justice who has been outspoken in his criticism of the president over the electioneering scandal, is under fire for his comments involving North Korea. During one of his recent homilies (full text [ko]), he said that “it was natural for the North to attack Yeonpyeong island since the United States and South Korea held joint military exercises near its sea border” referring to North Korean attack against that border island in November 2010 which left two civilians and two marines dead.

This has become ammunition for the government to have him invested by prosecutors. South Korea's prime minister labeled Park's remarks as “destructive to the country and supportive of the enemy”, and the Defense Minister chimed in by calling him an “enemy of the state”. It is ironic because in that same homily, Park also said that he is “so sick of the ‘pro-North’ rhetoric that the conservative regimes love to adopt and abuse in order to clamp down on critics after branding them as pro-North Korea sympathizers.”

Since late summer of this year, Catholic leadership in South Korea, spearheaded by the Catholic Priests’ Association for Justice, has been vocal in condemning the government's systematic interference, regularly holding combinations of Catholic Mass and candlelight vigils in protest. The group has the history [ko] of resisting against President Park's father's dictatorial rule back in the 1970s and also were the ones who unearthed the torture and death of Park Jong-Chul, a milestone that lead to the June Democratic Movement in 1987.

The latest revelations about the electioneering scandal show that more 24.2 million tweets have been written by the spy agency and the Defense Ministry's Cyberwarfare Command to smear opposition candidates and praise current president Park Geun-hye. As more and more protests have sprung up, the president recently said that ‘she would not tolerate any attempts to cause social division and hurt national unity'.  

The Korean web has erupted with anger and concerns over the nation's freedom of expression and democracy in light of the treatment of Father Park. 

Prominent citizen journalist @mediamongu tweeted a photo of a special Mass organized by the CPAJ and celebrated by Father Park on November 22. Approximately 400 priests and Catholics reportedly participated in this protest: 

After the Mass and protest calling for President Park's resignation ended, priests and Catholics members took to the streets, holding candles in their hands and shouting ‘Step down, President!' 

Many net users expressed their fear over the fact that pro-North rhetoric has been used so frequently against progressive groups and critics of the government:   

Catholic priests call for Pres. Park to resign

Priests and laypeople from the Jeonju diocese of the Catholic Priests‘ Association for Justice (CPAJ) marched after a special mass on the evening of Nov. 22 to hold a candlelight vigil in front of a Lotte Mart in Gunsan, North Jeolla Province. (by Kim Bong-gyu, staff photographer)

Interference in last December’s presidential election and highhanded response prompt calls for Park’s resignation

By Park Im-geun, North Jello correspondent, Jung Dae-ha, Gwangju correspondent, Kim Kwang-soo, Busan correspondent and Choi Sang-won, South Gyeongsang correspondent

Priests from the Jeonju diocese of the Catholic Priests' Association for Justice (CPAJ) held a special mass on the evening of Nov. 22 at the Susong Cathedral in Gunsan, North Jeolla Province. At the mass, the priests declared that the presidential election was illegal and rigged because of the interference by the National Intelligence Service (NIS) and other state institutions. The priests also called on President Park Geun-hye to resign.

Up to this point, Catholic priests and laypeople in dioceses around the country had held special masses at which they presented statements and asked for Park to apologize and punish the those responsible for the election interference, but this is the first time since she took office that priests have explicitly demanded that she step down.

The mass was independently planned by the Jeonju diocese of the CPAJ. However, since the position they took reflects the views of a considerable number of the Catholic clergy, it is now possible that demands for Park to step down will spread to other dioceses.

The priests from the Jeonju diocese of the association read their manifesto aloud during the mass. “If the president does not meet our demands for her to apologize, reveal the truth, punish those responsible, and announce her resignation, we will continue to hold special prayer meetings and masses calling for her resignation, and we will declare that she is no longer the president of South Korea,” the statement said.

The Jeonju priests said that the systematic election interference that state institutions were revealed to have carried out in last December’s presidential election suggest that the election was illegal and rigged, something that is unacceptable in a democratic country. Since Park is the person responsible for governing the country, they argued, she ought to take the ultimate responsibility for this.

The manifesto by the priests quoted several passages from the Bible, including Luke 8:16-17 (“No one lights a lamp and hides it in a clay jar or puts it under a bed...For there is nothing hidden that will not be disclosed, and nothing concealed that will not be known or brought out into the open”) and Matthew 18:17 (“…if they refuse to listen even to the church, treat them as you would a pagan or a tax collector”).

The mass was officiated by Song Nyeon-hong, priest at Susong Catholic Church. Song is the head of the Jeonju diocese of the CPAJ. The sermon at the mass was delivered by Park Chang-shin, a veteran priest who was one of the leaders in the democratization movements of the 1970s and 1980s.

After the mass was over, the priests and laypeople marched for about 900 meters through the neighborhood and took part in a candlelight vigil with local residents.

The CPAJ released an official statement on the same day, explaining that “the Jeonju diocese was acting alone when it called for President Park’s resignation.”

Nevertheless it is now possible that when priests from other dioceses express their position or take action by holding a special mass they may also call for Park to step down as the Jeonju priests did.

“While it may seem a little erratic for the Jeonju diocese of the CPAJ to ask President Park to step down, when you look at the underlying trends in the organization, they did not make this decision lightly,” said a source with the Seoul Archdiocese who spoke on condition of anonymity. “Backing up the demands for the president’s resignation is a strong consensus that has formed within the clergy.”

The source explained that Catholic priests had been using special masses and lectures to demand that the truth be revealed about the NIS’s interference in the election and that democracy be restored. The government made no kind of response to these efforts, however. With distrust in the government increasing throughout the Catholic Church, people in the Jeonju chapter of the CPAJ finally started talking about calling on Park to step down.

The cancellation of a meeting between Park and the council of Catholic bishops that had been scheduled for last month also could have affected the demand for the president to resign. Park was scheduled to have a lunch meeting with seven bishops on the council, but the Blue House unilaterally canceled the plans, explaining that the president was too busy.

Distrust of the president has increased in the Catholic Church, with people believing that Park was ignoring the church and was unwilling to communicate with it.

Priests from the fifteen Catholic dioceses started calling attention to the political situation on July 5. Through September, they delayed regular masses and issued manifestos criticizing state institutions’ illegal interference in the presidential election.

The Busan diocese was the first to issue an emergency manifesto in July, and on Nov. 4 it held a mass condemning state institutions’ illegal interference in the presidential election. The mass took place at the Seomyeon Cathedral located in the Bujeon neighborhood of the Busanjin district of Busan. It was the second such mass, following the first mass in September.

A total of 715 people took part in the mass on Nov. 4, including 162 priests from the Busan Diocese and 553 monks and nuns. During the mass, a manifesto was presented, which said, “We can no longer stand by and watch the current administration’s highhanded attempts to cover up the illegal interference in the election and to obstruct the investigation into the same. With heavy hearts, we offer a grave warning to the administration whose actions compel us to once hold a special mass and issue a statement. This is the last chance to choose the truth and to reform.”

The Committee for Justice and Peace at the Masan Diocese is planning to hold a third mass about the political situation.

“We held two special masses calling for the appointment of a special prosecutor into the National Intelligence Service’s illegal interference in the election. The first was at the Myeongseo Cathedral in Changwon on Sep. 9, and the second was at the Okbong Cathedral in Jinju on Nov. 18,” said committee chair Baek Nam-hae. “While we haven’t settled on the data or location yet, we are planning to hold a third special mass depending on how things go in the political situation.”

The Committee for Justice and Peace in the Gwangju Archdiocese, which had been holding a regular protest mass each Thursday, is also mulling over how it should respond.

“Just the facts that have surfaced so far about state institutions’ illegal interference in the presidential election was enough to bring us to this point [urging Park to resign],” said Lee Yeong-seon, the committee chair. “We will discuss what action we should take in the future after attending the protest mass in the Jeonju Diocese.”

Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]

Tables Turn Against S. Korean Pres. Park as Reputable Catholic Priests Demand Her Resignation

Yesterday | Posted by: roboblogger | Full story: CNN

On Friday, November 22, 2013 a special mass was held in Gunsan South Korea, a city located in the southwest province, by the Jeonju diocese of the Catholic Priests' Association for Justice .

http://www.topix.com/world-leaders/park-geun-hye/2013/11/tables-turn-against-s-korean-pres-park-as-reputable-catholic-priests-demand-her-resignation

On Friday, November 22, 2013 a special mass was held in Gunsan, South Korea, a city located in the southwest province, by the Jeonju diocese of the Catholic Priests’ Association for Justice (CPAJ). Approximately 400 priests and Catholics participated in the mass. They demanded the resignation of President Park Geun-hye stating that the legitimacy of her presidency was severely damaged by having been elected through a fraudulent election. It was the first time since last December’s election that the resignation of Park Geun-hye was called for publicly by any South Korean organization. Sources believe that this is only the beginning of organized support against President Park. Soon other religious and activist groups will also publicly call for her resignation.

Evidence has mounted since the election proving that state agencies such as the National Intelligence Service (NIS) and the army Cyber Warfare Command had interfered in the election to bring the candidate of the ruling party, Park Geun-hye, to victory. Despite substantial evidence against Park the opposition party leaders and citizen groups have so far only demanded a thorough investigation and an apology from the President. Park has been denying any association with the alleged crimes or to have received any benefit from the illegal election campaigning preformed in her favor.

The Catholic Priests’ Association for Justice was established in 1974 to fight against the dictatorship led by Park Chung-hee, the father of the current president. The priests in this group have played a major role for the past 40 years of South Korean history fighting for human rights, democracy, and freedom of speech. Many priests have been physically assualted, imprisoned, and tortured for supporting just causes.

Immediately upon the demand of the resignation of President Park by the CPAJ extreme right-wing conservatives and even the Blue House (Park’s office) made statements where they accused the priests of interfering in politics inappropriately and accused them of being North Korean sympathizers. This political strategy by Park’s administration was expected as any well known public figure who has spoken out against the election fraud has been branded as a North Korean sympathizer. Activists, religious leaders, poets, scholars, writers, and anyone with a platform to spread the truth have been attacked by Park’s administration and the major media outlets (which are all controlled by Park as well).

*For more information:

http://www.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_national/612424.html

The photograph is from the Hankyoreh.

[The resignation demand is the first efforts from Catholic side - Seoul, Korea]

Jeonju Catholic Diocese chapter of National Catholic Priests for the Realizaion of Justice (NCPRJ) has planned to have a special Mass at Susong Dong Church on Nov 22 at 7 PM, denouncing National organizations such as National Intelligence Service (NIS), Defence Ministry, and Patriots & Veterans Affairs Ministry for their meddling into the presidential election, 2013 and asking Miss Park, Keun-hye to step down from the post. The resignation demand is the first efforts from Catholic side. 

The NCPRJ, established on Sept 26, 1974 to realize the 2nd Vatican Council teaching on evangelization and social justice, is planning to declare their position on the issue at the general assembly on Jan, 2014. About one thirds of priests of Korean Catholic Church are supposed to be affiliated to it. And about 200 of them made a turning point by leading candlelight vigil asking repentance of the gov't for what they have done and reformation of the NIS on Sept 23, 2013.

http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-1063118

Prosecutors Detail Attempt to Sway South Korean Election

By CHOE SANG-HUN

Published: November 21, 2013

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SEOUL, South Korea — Agents from the National Intelligence Service of South Korea posted more than 1.2 million Twitter messages last year to try to sway public opinion in favor of Park Geun-hye, then a presidential candidate, and her party ahead of elections in 2012, state prosecutors said on Thursday.

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For months, South Korean politics have been rocked by the opposition’s accusations that officials at the National Intelligence Service, the country’s spy agency, and the military conducted an ambitious but clandestine online campaign to help Ms. Park win the Dec. 19 election.

Prosecutors have indicted several top intelligence officials, including Won Sei-hoon, the former director of the spy agency, on charges of ordering an online smear campaign against opposition candidates in violation of election law. A team of agents posted online messages that lauded government policies while ridiculing Ms. Park’s opposition rivals as untrustworthy pro-North Korean sympathizers ahead of the parliamentary election in April last year and the subsequent presidential election, they said.

But the prosecutors could not clarify how the operation affected the result of the elections. Ms. Park, who won her election by one million votes, has said she neither ordered nor benefited from such a campaign. But the opposition party claimed that she and the conservative government of her predecessor, Lee Myung-bak, colluded to manipulate the election results.

The evidence unveiled by prosecutors on Thursday showed that the Twitter campaign was more expansive than previously known. The revelation came as political pressure has mounted on the prosecutors. In the National Assembly, the opposition is pushing for the appointment of an independent investigator, saying that the investigation by the prosecutors cannot be trusted.

During a budget speech to the National Assembly on Monday, Ms. Park lamented the prolonged political strife, which has grounded many economic and tax overhaul bills. She promised to block the intelligence agency from meddling in domestic politics but called for people to trust the prosecutors and the court to investigate the election scandal.

On Thursday, her deputy, Prime Minister Chung Hong-won, said the prosecutors’ new findings were evidence that they were being fair. The governing Saenuri Party also accused the opposition of starting a political offensive to discredit Ms. Park’s legitimacy as president.

“We don’t think that the prosecutors’ fairness and neutrality were compromised,” Yoon Sang-hyun, a deputy floor leader, was quoted by his party as saying during its leadership meeting.

But the main opposition Democratic Party called for the dismissal of Justice Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn, accusing him of soft-pedaling the prosecutors’ inquiry to prevent any finding that would hurt Ms. Park. Mr. Hwang, appointed by Ms. Park, oversees the prosecutors. Opposition party leaders have also held a series of rallies in recent months demanding an apology from Ms. Park, whom they accuse of obstructing a fair investigation.

“What’s clear so far is that the National Intelligence Service and other state agencies had engaged in a systematic and massive intervention in elections,” Kim Han-gil, the top opposition party leader, said on Thursday.

The intelligence service said its online messages were posted as part of normal psychological warfare operations against North Korea, which it said used the Internet to criticize South Korean government policies, forcing its agents to defend them online. In a statement on Thursday, it also accused the prosecutors of citing as their evidence online postings that had nothing to do with its agents.

The allegation first surfaced during the election campaign last year, when opposition politicians and officials from the National Election Commission tried in vain to enter an office in Seoul that was locked from the inside by an intelligence agent who refused to answer questions about whether she was part of an illegal online election effort.

Three days before the presidential election, the Seoul police announced that they had found no evidence to support the opposition’s accusations. During her last television debate, Ms. Park excoriated her main opposition rival, Moon Jae-in, over what she called the harassment of a female agent by his party.

But the scandal did not die with Ms. Park’s election.

A senior police investigator told reporters after the election that her supervisor had intervened in the investigation, withholding evidence. The boss, Kim Yang-pan, who is the former chief of the Seoul Metropolitan Police, was indicted with Mr. Won, the former intelligence chief. Both denied the charges against them.

At the time of Mr. Won’s indictment in June, the prosecutors said they had found thousands of online political postings by his agents since 2009. Then, last month, they said they had found more than 55,000 Twitter messages from them. The former head of the prosecutors’ investigation also said his boss in the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office tried to block him from submitting that additional evidence, a charge the boss denied.

In a separate inquiry, military investigators are looking into South Korea’s Cyberwarfare Command after it was revealed last month in Parliament that some of its officials had conducted a similar online campaign against opposition candidates. The Cyberwarfare Command was created in 2010 to guard South Korea against hacking threats from North Korea.

On Thursday, the prosecutors said the 1.2 million Twitter messages they had discovered were mostly copies of the 26,500 original messages that the agents mass-distributed through a special computer program. But even if they were copies, they constituted an act of meddling in domestic politics and elections, Lee Jin-han, a senior prosecutor, told reporters.

Seoul, "icon of democracy" priest asks Park to apologize and repent

Seoul, "icon of democracy" priest asks Park to apologize and repent

by Joseph Yun Li-sun
Fr. Ham Se- woong , a Catholic priest known throughout South Korea for his leading role in the 1970’s protests against the dictator Park Chung -hee , has joined the Alliance for Cooperation: "what 's happening, happened in the last century. The government must repent and retract. And we must be vigilant to save democracy".


Seoul (AsiaNews) - The illegalities that occurred in the presidential election a year ago were a serious crime, but the bigger crimes are the cover-up, the investigation hampering, and the pressure tactics that we've seen under the current administration".  These were the words of Fr . Ham Se- woong , a Catholic priest known throughout South Korea for his leading role in the protests of the seventies against the dictator Park Chung -hee , the father of Korean President Park Geun - hye .

The priest was attending the launch of the Alliance for Cooperation, a movement that aims to achieve justice after theserious violations committed by the National Intelligence Service which emerged in recent months. The Catholic Church has joined the protests of the political parties and democratic organizations, asking the "Blue House " to shed light on the electoral fraud and , more generally, to put a stop to the illegal activities carried out by the state apparatus in the name of "stability".

Fr. Ham, who worked with Cardinal Kim for a decade to support democratic activities against the military dictatorship of Park (father ) stated that "the Church and society have come together to guard our Constitution and embody its values in the spirit of the March 1 Independence Revolution [against Japan in 1919] and the April Revolution [of 1960].We stand here recalling the spirit of the 1980 Gwangju democracy movement and the 1987 democracy movement, holding in our hearts all the righteous people who stood up against iniquitous governments and all the countless candles - hoping, praying, and appealing for this government to repent".

He concluded, "in forming this Alliance we decided to unite around our great common denominators in spite of the basic differences. There are minor and major violations , they are all serious things that threaten our conception of democracy. Those who govern us must return to the spirit of the task it performs, find their humility and apologize for what happened before the entire population. "

http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Seoul,-icon-of-democracy-priest-asks-Park-to-apologize-and-repent-29528.html

South Korean Media Whitewashes President's European Trip

South Korean President Park Geun-hye recently completed a week-long official visit to Western Europe on a political mission to forge economic and financial partnerships with Belgium, France and the UK.

But some facts, you wouldn't know from Korean media coverage.  

Korean net users have bashed pro-government major newspapers for inundating their pages with lavish praise for the president's fashion sense and language skills while distorting the truth and filtering out some major talking points.

“When Park stepped into Buckingham palace, the rain stopped and the sun shone [ko]“. “The world was mesmerized by the president's traditional Korean fashion [ko]“. “Park delivered an opening speech in French, received a standing ovation for her fluent French‘ [ko]…

These are just few examples of actual headlines Korean media printed while covering Park's visit. Media critics even published a lengthy compilation of Korean media's praises [ko]. And it was nearly impossible to find any negative commentary, especially from the three biggest conservative newspapers in the country, which are notorious for being in agreement with almost every major issue backed by right-wing governments.

To South Koreans, this kind of coverage shares hallmarks of the country's dictatorship in the 1970s and 80s, considered the darkest era of journalism when the current president’s father ruled the country with iron fist and infamous military dictator Chun Doo-hwan brutally clamped down on democratic movements. Back in Chun’s era, primetime TV news always began the broadcast with a heaping of praise for Chun [ko] as the first news item.

Park's trip-up, embargoed

On November 6 during Park's visit, as she was exiting a car, she fell because she stepped on the tail of her long, traditional Korean dress. But only on the night of November 7 were Koreans able to read about this on Korean news as the presidential house had placed an embargo on local press and asked that they not write about the fall [ko] until foreign media covered it.

Many net users seems perplexed, even shocked at the incident:

Fell with a splash! This is a scene of Your Highness Park Geun-hye falling down during her visit to UK. The presidential house asked to hold off writing about it till the foreign press reported on this. Come on, we are not living in an absolute monarchy. The media who voluntarily caved to this are quite problematic.

What is funnier than Park’s fall? It is hilarious that the presidential house blocked press from reporting on this and that the press accepted such request.

The real reason for a standing ovation

Numerous media outlets reported that Park spoke in French during her visit to France and received a standing ovation. But they didn't explain what was her speech about: 

Local media have showered the president with positive coverage that she got a standing ovation by speaking in French. But this fact they missed out: the part where she got the most applause is when she said she will open up the Korean public sector market to foreign companies.

Similar comments lamented:

@ksi0601 올랑드가 원하는 건 ‘시장’뿐이다[...] 박근혜의 연설에 기립박수를 친건 당연한 것이었다. 하지만, 이런 사실을 알리는 언론이 대한민국에는 없었다.

@ksi0601 What [French President Francois] Hollande wanted was the market [...] It is so obvious why they gave a standing ovation to Park Geun-hye’s speech. But there was no Korean media who reported this fact.

Korean media unanimously praised Park’s visit to France and UK, however Koreans living in those countries said their media don't even report much, except the fact that she is a dictator’s daughter and the Korean spy agency’s interference in the presidential election. Shame on you — you [Korean] journalists and tabloids who don't even feel shame.

Threatening Korean protesters in Paris

During Park's visits to France and the UK, Koreans living in those countries held candlelight vigils denouncing the state spy agency's meddling in the latest presidential election – an election that made Park the president today:

 Right now, Koreans living in the UK, holding signs, are holding a candlelight vigil. We are now in London. 

 Today in London, a candlelight event was held to welcome President Park. 

However, ruling party lawmaker Kim Jin-Tae, who accompanied Park on her European tour, posted a threatening message on his Facebook page [ko], saying “Paris protesters will pay for this”, suggesting that the protesters are from the leftist party, and adding that “anyone whose blood didn't boil upon seeing those protesters must not be a Korean”.

Enraged by this insult, the protesters demanded that Kim apologize [ko]. Net users chimed in: 

That thug Kim Jin-Tae made quite a scene by saying “those people who protested in Paris against the election fraud, I will made them pay”. By saying so, he has instantly made Park — who publicly said that “democracy runs smoothly in South Korea” — a liar.

Thanks to [ruling party] Saenuri’s politician Kim Jin-Tae, more people are learning about the Paris protests, which were held during Park’s visit to Paris. These protests have been rarely reported by Korean media.

Written byLee Yoo Eun

South Korean President Park Geun hye having a hard time

Published on Nov 7, 2013

South Korean President Park Geun-hye, the capital of England had a hard time attending a dinner in London. Korean traditional costume, participating in a dinner given in honor of the park fell from the vehicle descends. South Korea's first female president who grew up near the Park's help. Park attended the dinner given in honor of himself recovering after falling now.

Fraudulent and Illegal Korean President Elect. Ms. Park should be stepped down RIGHT NOW as National Spy Agency had meddled 2012 Presidential Election in Korea !!!

http://youtu.be/lXH6qiz1Z5I