hankyoreh

of former President Park Geun-hye demonstrate in front of Park’s house in Seoul’s Gangnam district

Mar. 15 was the fourth day since Park Geun-hye returned to her house in Seoul’s Gangnam District after the Constitutional Court decided to remove her from the presidency. Throughout those four days, the temperature plummeted after as night fell, and even the days were quite chilly. But on the first day, more than 900 of Park’s supporters gathered at her house, and since the second day more than 100 have been gathering there every day. Some of them were among those who spent the night on the street in front of the Constitutional Court on Mar. 9, the day before the court’s ruling on Park’s impeachment. Even now, between three and five of them stay up all night in front of Park’s house. Why did these people, who are generally in their 50s, 60s and 70s, brave the cold to hit the asphalt in support of Park?

When asked about the view that the Constitutional Court made its 8-to-0 ruling to uphold Park’s impeachment in an attempt to create national unity, Park’s supporters on the streets were enraged, saying that “8-to-0 is a kangaroo court.”

“I came out because of my anger at the 8-to-0 decision. 6-to-2 would have acknowledged that people’s opinions can differ, but 8-to-0 is a kangaroo court. It’s a ruling that could only have happened in North Korea. At this rate we could see a return to the times of the Korean War when commies were running riot,” said Kim Eun-hee (not her real name, 71), who was clutching a South Korean flag.

Lee Yeon-sook (not her real name, in her 60s) felt the same way: “I was angry because the president was removed from power by an 8-to-0 ruling, without any opposing opinions, as you would have with 6-to-2 or 7-to-1.”

“I even attended two candlelight rallies. But after they started calling for the release of [former Unified Progressive Party lawmaker] Lee Seok-ki and for Park to be executed on a guillotine, I joined the conservative rallies,” Lee added.

Some of Park’s supporters also argued that the Constitutional Court’s decision to remove Park from office because of the Choi Sun-sil scandal was rushed and unfair. “The media, the Prosecutors, the Special Prosecutor and the Constitutional Court were all in cahoots. They arranged events to keep the people in the dark and impeached the president according to a predetermined plan,” said Baek Cheon-woo (not his real name, in his 60s). “It was a rebellion, it was a conspiracy.”

“As soon as the Choi Sun-sil scandal broke, the North Korea sympathizers who want to ruin South Korea thought that this was their chance to overthrow the government and concocted this whole thing to gain power. Park says that the whole thing seemed fabricated, you know? The media took the lead in reporting the story, the National Assembly accepted this and passed the motion for impeachment without even investigating it, Park Young-soo was nominated to be Special Prosecutor with only the opposition parties’ support, and even the Constitutional Court’s decision to impeach her was unanimous. That’s how they fabricated this,” Baek said.

“Since it looks like Moon Jae-in will be the president, everyone is lining up behind him,” Baek added.

“It was a biased trial since [Choi Sun-sil’s associate] Koh Young-tae wasn’t put in jail but [Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman] Lee Jae-yong was,” Kim Eun-hee said.

“The Constitutional Court mixed up the order of its decision on the impeachment. The whole trial was wrong: they ought to have decided on the impeachment at the very end, after the Prosecutors finished their preliminary investigation, but they rushed their decision,” Lee Yeon-suk said.

Some of Park’s supporters also expressed doubt about public opinion polls about the impeachment before the Constitutional Court’s ruling in the impeachment trial. “They were saying that 80% of the public supported the impeachment and 20% opposed it, but that’s probably not the case. Some people were saying that public opinion polls would show a 50-to-50 split. There were also some shy conservatives who didn’t respond,” Baek said.

“There are a lot of people who say they want to emigrate because they hate this country for impeaching Park,” Kim Eun-hee said.

“I actually know some people who have gone to Southeast Asia to look for a place to live. Even if you go abroad, South Korea needs to be strong if you want to hold your head up high. If they leave, they’ll just be living in shame,” Kim added.

“Syngman Rhee [in office 1948-60] is the president who achieved liberal democracy, and he made this country rich and powerful by achieving a Korean style of democracy. Be sure to pay a visit to the Park Chung-hee Presidential Museum,” Kim said.

There were also signs of antipathy for the younger generation. “Our generation doesn’t know how to use the internet. It’s frustrating that we only write with a pen and can’t use the internet,” said Han Ji-seon (not her real name, in her 60s). “Whenever something happens, young people post their opinions online and they get shared with one thousand or two thousand people. It makes me angry that we can’t do that,” Han said.

“I live with my son, and he tells me that Park made a mistake and that we’re wrong to oppose her impeachment. Young people look down on our opinions,” Baek said. This shows that these people’s disappointment with their children has shifted into disappointment with the younger generation.

“I have to wear sunglasses out of concern that my children will see me. I might appear in a photograph,” one woman in her 70s said to the woman she was with.

One woman became wary when she learned she was speaking to a Hankyoreh reporter: “Don’t write it down. Who knows how different it will be in the paper.” But there were others who were grateful that someone was listening to them.

By Kim Kyu-nam, staff reporter

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