Netizens criticize Park's 'unprepared' style

President Park Geun-hye speaks during a New Year press conference at Cheong Wa Dae, Monday. / Yonhap

By Lee Min-hyung

President Park Geun-hye’s New Year address received thousands of comments on the web, mostly negative ones.

One line of criticism from Korea’s famously active gallery of netizens on web portal Naver targeted Park’s rhetorical style, with observers saying she appeared nervous while speaking and defensive when answering questions.

“If she prepared the speech on her own, she would be more confident,” one netizen commented on a story on Naver.

“She used too many ‘filler words’ during the speech and the words made it hard to concentrate,” another said, referring to Korean words that would roughly translate to “umm.”

Some said she took a defensive tone when addressing the “memogate” scandal that erupted late last year when a document leak exposed an alleged power struggle at the presidential office.

“She definitely failed to properly answer reporters’ questions. How could she speak in an angry tone?” one netizen commented, contrasting her responses to those of President Roh Moo-hyun.

Others chided Park for “being at odds with reality,” after the speech that heavily emphasized the economy and the need for unification with North Korea.

Park has touted Korean unification as a potential “jackpot” or “bonanza” that could generate huge benefits for the peninsula and region.

“It is unrealistic for Park to keep her ‘unification-is-jackpot’ theory,” one netizen posted on Naver. “She’s failed to unify the people. I don’t understand why she focuses on unifying the Korean Peninsula.”

At least one netizen was somewhat sympathetic to the President.

She “is not a superwoman. She cannot handle everything perfectly,” the observer wrote.