Man receives rave reviews for song satirizing Choi
By Lee Kyung-min
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Shim Jae-kyung
Shim Jae-kyung, 52, has become an instant media celebrity after he released a song inspired by the hypocrisy of President Park Geun-hye’s confidant Choi Soon-sil, the central figure of the influence-peddling scandal.
The lyrics of the song titled “Keunilnatne,” roughly translated as “Oh dear God. I’m in for it.” were excerpts from a transcript of a taped conversation between Choi and her subordinate, an official at one of two scandal-ridden foundations ― Mir and K-Sports ― she set up.
The conversation, obtained by Rep. Park Young-sun of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), was played during the National Assembly hearing held to question necessary figures involved in the scandal last December.
In the conversation, Choi, apparently anxious, was still struggling to come up with schemes to deal with news reports that a tablet PC, obtained by local cable news channel JTBC, proved numerous allegations about how she had access to classified presidential secrets including national speeches. Choi had thus far denied all allegations as groundless.
“Oh dear God. I’m in for it. Oh dear God. What should I do? We are all dead. We are all dead,” go the lyrics.
“Why were you unable to prevent (the leakage) from happening? You shouldn’t have handled it that way. Why did he have to tell that story? Why in the world? We have to make up a story.”
The song was uploaded on Youtube last December and has since had almost 134,000 hits.
Shim said he hoped that the public frustration could be allayed by his song.
“I think my song is cathartic mainly because of the lyrics. The conversation proved that Choi was lying the whole time and getting anxious over the consequences,” he said.
The Sogang University alumnus who majored in journalism and currently works at RU Consulting, said while songwriting has been his life passion, he never thought he would become famous for a satirical song.
He is currently recording another satirical song, entitled “Nuhmoo ukulhaeyo,” which could be roughly translated into “It’s so unfair,” a sentence Choi shouted to reporters to express her discontent with what she claimed were “aggressive interrogation methods” by the special prosecution team last week.
Choi, at the time, was forcibly brought in for questioning as she had repeatedly refused to cooperate with the team’s investigation.