The ruling Saenuri Party’s presidential candidate Park Geun-hye made yet another gaffe Sunday when she accidentally announced she was stepping down as the president.

“Today, after sharing joy and sorrow with the people for 15 years, I am resigning from the presidency,” she said during a press conference held at Saenuri headquarters.

It was an odd statement, considering that the 60-year-old politician -- despite her position as a prominent figure within the parliament and her party -- had never actually been appointed the leader of South Korea.

After a few painstaking seconds filled with stunned mumbling from the audience, Park realized her mistake.

“I am resigning from the Parliament. What did I just say? Right, I made a mistake,” she added with a laugh.

Hwang Dae-won, deputy spokesperson for Democratic United Party presidential candidate Moon Jae’s campaign team, said the gaffe highlights Park’s “imperial sense of privilege.”

“(Park) cannot even grasp what she is saying. When someone who does not even know what she said becomes a president and is entrusted with the tasks of diplomacy, defense and internal affairs, the future of South Korea will plummet into darkness,” he added.

While Park’s blunder seems harmless and innocent this time, it was not the first time she said the wrong thing at the wrong time.

In September, she held a press conference to publicly apologize for her father Park Chung-hee’s 18-year iron-fisted rule. During the conference she mistakenly pronounced the Inhyeokdang incident -- which led to the wrongful execution of eight democratic activists in 1974 -- as “Minhyeokdang,” and failed to recognize her mistake.

The main opposition Democratic United Party fiercely reprimanded the mistake, saying the fact Park that said the wrong name and failed to realize it brings into question the sincerity of the apology. It also pointed out that despite Park’s apologies, she still has not visited the victims’ families in person.

Park had caused furor earlier when she said Inhyeokdang incident had two rulings, and the incident should be left to be decided by history and the people.

Contrary to her claims, however, the final ruling for the incident in 2007 clearly states that the executed activists were innocent.

Park fumbled once again in October, when she wrongly quoted a court ruling on the controversial founding of Jeongsu Scholarship Foundation, which was created by combining an existing foundation established by Busan-based businessman Kim Ji-tae with additional donations.

She claimed during a press conference that a Seoul court ruled that Kim’s assets were voluntarily donated. After the event was over however, a close aid of Park seemed to whisper something to her, and she returned to the podium to retract her words.

“I said there was no coercion, but I seemed to have been mistaken. According to Yonhap News, the court did say Kim gave up his stocks due to coercion,” she said.

By Yoon Min-sik
(minsikyoon@heraldcorp.com)


<관련 한글 기사>

박근혜 황당한 말실수, 대통령직 사퇴?

박근혜 새누리당 대선후보가 연이은 말실수로 주변을 술렁이게 했다

박 후보는 25일, 서울 여의도 새누리 당사에서 기자회견을 열고 비례대표 국회의원직 사퇴를 선언하면서 “저는 오늘로 지난 15년간 국민 애환과 기쁨을 같이 나누던 대통령직을 사퇴합니다.”라고 발언해 회견장에 모인 이들을 깜짝 놀라게 했던 것으로 알려졌다.

그는 곧 이를 정정하고 국회의원직을 사퇴한다고 밝혔다.

이에 민두통합당 문재인 후보 캠프의 황대원 부대변인은 이날 논평을 통해 박 후보를 맹비난하며 “왜 수첩공주라는 별명이 붙었는지, 왜 기자회견마다 기자들의 질문 내용과 질문 숫자까지 사전에 정해놓는지, 왜 인혁당 사건 판결문을 제대로 해석하지 못하는지 이유가 밝혀졌다”고 강조했다.

뒤이어 그는 “본인이 무슨 말을 했는지도 모르는 분이 중차대한 외교와 국방, 내치의 책임을 지는 대통령이 된다면 대한민국의 미래는 암흑 속으로 빠질 것”이라고 주장했다. 황 부대변인은 박 후보가 제왕적 특권세력으로 살아온 점을 이날 박 후보가 한 말실수의 또 다른 이유로 꼽았다.