By Kim Rahn
President Moon Jae-in took two days off from Thursday to today as he is sick due to accumulated fatigue following a series of big diplomatic events and his recent visit to Russia.
Suspicions about his whereabouts emerged Wednesday after he cancelled a meeting with UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay and another economy-related meeting involving a large number of ministers, heads of state committees and businesspeople only a couple of hours earlier.
Cheong Wa Dae said the second meeting was cancelled because relevant ministries had not made enough preparations, but did not provide a specific explanation for the cancellation of the first meeting.
Rumors and guesses circulated that Moon was seriously ill, or might have even gone to Panmunjeom to have a secret third meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un as he did on May 26.
A late afternoon briefing by presidential spokesman Kim Eui-kyeom eliminated all the suspicions. Moon had not felt well since that morning, so the meeting with Azoulay was cancelled. The President's doctor examined him, concluded he had cold and fatigue, and strongly recommended he rest through the weekend.
It is rare for a president's health to be made public, because it can be related to national security. But Kim said, "Even though the President's health may be a secret, we thought we can't just keep mum when asked why he is not participating in pre-arranged events this week."
Cheong Wa Dae's decision is generally well accepted because the disclosure prevented unnecessary misunderstandings and arguments about the President's whereabouts. There is no reason not to disclose that the President is sick, unless the illness is very grave or he is doing something else using illness as an excuse.
President Moon has worked so hard, having had almost no proper rest since his inauguration about a year ago, so people would generally understand he deserves time off.
In the days of Moon's predecessor, Park Geun-hye, Cheong Wa Dae said a president's health was a grade two state secret directly related to national security. When lawmakers asked why Cheong Wa Dae purchased high-priced fitness equipment and hired a health trainer as an assistant secretary, then presidential staffers refused to answer, citing the state secret clause.
But the presidential office sometimes voluntarily made public her illness.
In May 2016 after Park's 12-day trip to Africa, Cheong Wa Dae said she struggled to fulfill the tightly-scheduled events there, having to get an IV during the trip. After a trip to South America in April 2015, it said she rested for a couple of days because she had stomach cramps, a sore throat and mild fever.
The Park administration disclosed her detailed health mainly when it wanted to draw sympathy from the public and stress "the president was working that hard." But it remained tightlipped when it wanted to hide something, such as what Park was doing for the first seven hours after the ferry Sewol sank.
There may not be a correct answer about whether a president's health should be kept secret and to what extent it can be made public. But what is correct is that his or her health should not be used for political purposes.
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Suspicions about his whereabouts emerged Wednesday after he cancelled a meeting with UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay and another economy-related meeting involving a large number of ministers, heads of state committees and businesspeople only a couple of hours earlier.
Cheong Wa Dae said the second meeting was cancelled because relevant ministries had not made enough preparations, but did not provide a specific explanation for the cancellation of the first meeting.
Rumors and guesses circulated that Moon was seriously ill, or might have even gone to Panmunjeom to have a secret third meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un as he did on May 26.
A late afternoon briefing by presidential spokesman Kim Eui-kyeom eliminated all the suspicions. Moon had not felt well since that morning, so the meeting with Azoulay was cancelled. The President's doctor examined him, concluded he had cold and fatigue, and strongly recommended he rest through the weekend.
It is rare for a president's health to be made public, because it can be related to national security. But Kim said, "Even though the President's health may be a secret, we thought we can't just keep mum when asked why he is not participating in pre-arranged events this week."
Cheong Wa Dae's decision is generally well accepted because the disclosure prevented unnecessary misunderstandings and arguments about the President's whereabouts. There is no reason not to disclose that the President is sick, unless the illness is very grave or he is doing something else using illness as an excuse.
President Moon has worked so hard, having had almost no proper rest since his inauguration about a year ago, so people would generally understand he deserves time off.
In the days of Moon's predecessor, Park Geun-hye, Cheong Wa Dae said a president's health was a grade two state secret directly related to national security. When lawmakers asked why Cheong Wa Dae purchased high-priced fitness equipment and hired a health trainer as an assistant secretary, then presidential staffers refused to answer, citing the state secret clause.
But the presidential office sometimes voluntarily made public her illness.
In May 2016 after Park's 12-day trip to Africa, Cheong Wa Dae said she struggled to fulfill the tightly-scheduled events there, having to get an IV during the trip. After a trip to South America in April 2015, it said she rested for a couple of days because she had stomach cramps, a sore throat and mild fever.
The Park administration disclosed her detailed health mainly when it wanted to draw sympathy from the public and stress "the president was working that hard." But it remained tightlipped when it wanted to hide something, such as what Park was doing for the first seven hours after the ferry Sewol sank.
There may not be a correct answer about whether a president's health should be kept secret and to what extent it can be made public. But what is correct is that his or her health should not be used for political purposes.
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