hankyoreh

The Hyundai Equus ridden in by Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn

On the evening of Mar. 20, an office worker surnamed Kim who was on a KTX high-speed train from Seoul to Busan, saw something unexpected outside of the window. Two big cars were driving across the platform, where passengers were getting on and off the train.

The two automobiles stopped in front of train cars No. 1 and No. 2 and let out men in suits, who blocked passengers hurrying to board the train in time. Then, a man got out of the rear seat of a black Hyundai Equus and leisurely walked onto train car No. 2 and into first class.

The man was Hwang Kyo-ahn, South Korea’s Prime Minister.

Hwang sparked controversy by riding his official vehicle onto the train platform to board a train on a day when he had no official appointments.

According to reporting by the Hankyoreh and a response from the Office of the Prime Minister on Mar. 21, Hwang boarded KXT No. 171, scheduled to depart at 8 pm on Sunday, and traveled to Osong Station in North Chungcheong Province as part of a visit to Sejong City, the country’s administrative capital.

After the two official vehicles from the Office of the Prime Minister drove onto the platform and dropped Hwang off in front of train cars No. 1 and No. 2, they turned around and departed.

Some of the platforms at Seoul Station are accessible to vehicles, said Korail.

Since it is physically impossible for vehicles to access Osong Station, the endpoint of Hwang‘s train journey, Hwang reportedly had to walk to the entrance to the station, where he boarded a waiting vehicle.

Hwang’s platform drop-off may have been a bit much. “Perhaps Hwang was on business that was so urgent they had to block off the rest of the passengers, but this is the sort of thing we used to see during a more authoritarian time,” said one individual who claimed to have been on the same train as Hwang.

“I‘m never seen someone riding a government car all the way to the platform at a train station,” said an official formerly in charge of ceremony for important figures in the three branches of government. “That wouldn’t happen unless things were extremely urgent. There were a few times when important figures who urgently needed to fly somewhere rode a car onto the runway.”

When asked about why the government cars accessed the platform, a Korail spokesperson was unable to answer, noting that “the Prime Minister’s security and ceremony are areas in which security must be protected.”

“Prime Minister Hwang rode into Seoul Station on a government vehicle and boarded the train on Sunday in order to take part in events in Sejong City including a visit to the Agency for Defense Development on the morning of Mar. 21. While this measure was taken for security purposes while minimizing inconvenience to the public, we will look into whether it was appropriate,” said a spokesperson for the Office of the Prime Minister.

By Kim Sung-hwan and Kim Jin-cheol, staff reporters

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