hankyoreh

President Park Geun-hye is briefed on the Sewol ferry sinking at 5:30 pm on Apr. 16

Park Geun-hye’s whereabouts have been unaccounted for during the seven hours from 10 am on Apr. 16, 2014, when she received the first report about the Sewol ferry sinking, until 5:15 pm, when Park appeared at the government disaster response headquarters. During those seven hours, Park stayed in the Blue House, shutting out anyone from the outside, including key Blue House advisors such as her Chief of Staff, Kim Ki-choon. The secrets of those seven hours have been closely guarded since the day of the sinking, and the slightest mention of them has evoked “royal wrath.”

The Hankyoreh confirmed on Dec. 6 that Park wasted more than 90 minutes of that time having a popular stylist from Seoul’s Gangnam district visit the Blue House to do her hair, rather than taking measures to rescue the passengers on the Sewol. Multiple cosmetologists and sources at the Blue House told the Hankyoreh that the Blue House contacted an individual surnamed Jung, the director of Toni and Guy in the Cheongdam neighborhood of Gangnam, and asked her to come to Park’s residence at the Blue House to style her hair. This contact took place around noon, when the Sewol had capsized, with just the tip of its prow still in sight. This was a little over an hour after Park personally instructed Kim Seok-gyun, who was then director of the coast guard, to deploy special forces to make every effort to rescue the passengers.

But that’s not all. Park had just received a telephone briefing at 11:23 am from National Security Chief Kim Jang-soo that it was very likely that the passengers who had not been rescued were missing or still onboard the ferry. This briefing included the information that 315 people had not been rescued and were stuck on the ferry.

The resolute tone of the orders that Park gave Kim Seok-gyun and the urgent need to rescue the 315 passengers apparently had no bearing on Park’s hair styling needs. The very fact that Park wanted Jung to do her hair even though Jung was in Gangnam - an hour away from the Blue House - illustrates her nonchalance about the disaster. In other words, even as rescue workers were racing against the clock to rescue the more than 300 people still on the ferry, what Park needed was for a hair stylist in Gangnam that she had known for 10 years to spend an hour and a half doing her hair.

2014

Park’s preposterous behavior continued while she was having her hair done. She apparently did not ask Jung to do her work quickly or mention any other appointments. It seems that Jung was in a hurry to leave her shop on the assumption that Park had a press conference or some other urgent engagement. But Jung was not given any instructions of the kind, so she proceeded to do Park‘s hair in her normal manner. An hour and a half was wasted while Jung used upwards of a dozen pins to style Park’s hair.

Another question is whether Park was attending to her work while having her hair done. The Hankyoreh contacted Jung on several occasions to ask her about this, but each time she refused to comment. Park‘s phone calls with Kim Jang-soo, which apparently took place while Park’s hair was being done, suggest what Park was doing. Even after being informed at 11:23 am that 315 passengers had not been rescued, Park did not give any orders until 2:11 pm, when she told Kim to “check on the status of the rescue efforts and to investigate the situation on the ground.” When she received a phone call from Kim at 2:50 pm informing her that the news that 190 more people had been rescued was an incorrect report from the West (Yellow) Sea coast guard office to the coast guard headquarters, she told him seven minutes later reprimand those responsible for the confusion about how many people had been rescued and to recheck the figures. Considering that Park had received more than 10 briefings from Kim and from the office of the Senior Secretary for Political Affairs during the morning and the afternoon, and considering that coast guard vessel no. 513 started transmitting video footage of the scene of the accident to the Blue House situation room at 11:10 am, it’s hard to understand how Park could have given such meaningless orders.

In addition, Park started having her hair done after 1 pm, which is just about the time that the coast guard began its underwater rescue work. The coast guard had trouble with the rescue work and could not even get inside the hull for the entire afternoon. The coast guard also caused confusion by preventing navy helicopters and patrol ships from approaching and keeping navy divers from reaching the scene of the accident. The prevailing view is that the “golden time” for the rescue efforts was lost because President Park, who was supposed to be coordinating those efforts, did not make an appearance. The rescue workers and equipment that are ordinarily available for the first response are bound to be inadequate in a national emergency, so it was essential for the military and the coast guard to work together.

It was not until 3 pm that Park gave orders to prepare for her visit to the government disaster response headquarters, and it was not until after 5 pm that she actually showed up. That was when Park asked Second Vice Minister of Public Security and Administration Lee Gyeong-ok a question that showed she did not grasp the situation: “They’re saying that all the students had life jackets on, so why is it so hard to find them?”

The fact that Park was with Jung having her hair done for about one and a half hours basically clears up some of the questions about Park’s whereabouts during those seven hours. Jung did not deny that she entered Park’s personal residence at the Blue House to do Park‘s hair. What remains to be determined is what Park was doing for the rest of that time and who else was with her. With that in mind, the Hankyoreh asked Jung about what happened when she was with Park, but Jung repeatedly declined to answer. Jung also refused to make any comment about the presence of other people who are suspected of having been at the Blue House on that day, including Choi Sun-sil or doctors and nurses such as Kim Yeong-jae and Kim Sang-man. Jung did briefly acknowledge that the special prosecutor would be investigating Park’s seven hours and that she would have some explaining to do since she had been in the Blue House at that time.

Jung started styling Park’s hair around 2005, when Park was the leader of the Grand National Party (precursor of today’s ruling Saenuri Party). Back then, Jung would visit Park’s private home in the Samseong neighborhood of Seoul to do her hair. After Park became president, Jung quite naturally began visiting the Blue House. Their relationship has lasted for more than 10 years.

The link between Park and Jung was Choi Sun-sil. Choi Sun-sil and her older sister Choi Sun-deuk had been regulars at Jung’s salon for a long time - more than 20 years. Reportedly, that is why the Choi sisters introduced Jung to Park.

By Ha Eo-young, staff reporter

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