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Brief history of presidential tears
From left, President Park Geun-hye and former presidents Lee Myung-bak and Roh Moo-hyun
By Ko Dong-hwan
By Ko Dong-hwan
As she announced her decision to disband Korea’s coastguard over its lamentable job in rescuing passengers from the doomed Sewol ferry, President Park Geun-hye shed tears while reading the names of the students who died.
It was a rare expression of emotion for Park, who is usually reserved and icy, and the moment was destined to dominate the front pages of newspapers.
However, it wasn’t the first time Park shed tears in public. As the leader of the Grand National Party, which preceded the Saenuri Party, Park got emotional during a televised speech ahead of the 2004 local elections.
Park also cried while visiting the memorial of South Korean soldiers who died during North Korea’s sinking of the Cheonan warship in 2010 and at a funeral of her bodyguard who died during the presidential elections in 2012.
Former President Lee Myung-bak, who preceded Park, cried while delivering a speech over the Cheonan attacks in 2010 and also when he appeared on television later that year and talked about his late mother.
The late Roh Moo-hyun, the last Democratic Party president, was famous for frequently shedding tears, an image that dominated his television advertisements during the 2002 presidential election.