During the People’s Power general assembly this morning (7th), representative Kim Ki-hyun expressed a sense of responsibility and embarrassment over recent controversies within party leadership, which have led to low approval ratings and disapproval from the public. Members Tae Young-ho, Jo Su-jin, and Kim Jae-won have been criticized for their inappropriate words, while governors Kim Jin-tae and Kim Young-hwan faced scrutiny for their actions during forest fires. Governor Kim Jin-tae visited a golf driving range and had a dinner with acquaintances during a 24-hour emergency work system for forest fires, despite a large forest fire burning in Hongcheon-gun, Gangwon-do. Governor Kim explained that he went to the driving range to meet an official, but ended up practicing golf for regarding 30 minutes. He then attended a dinner appointment for a business agreement, which had been set before the forest fire broke out. Some officials expressed disappointment in the governor’s judgment during a time of crisis.
| It’s embarrassing that there was a very unfortunate situation because of a controversy like a story in the party leadership, and there were also times when the people frowned at the inappropriate words and actions among those in the leadership who lead our party.
-Kim Ki-hyun, representative of the People’s Power, today (7th) morning general assembly |
This is what Kim Ki-hyun, the representative of People’s Power, said at the general assembly this morning (7th), saying that he felt a heavy sense of responsibility. In a situation where the party’s approval rating was low, when accidents like this broke out, they started to deal with it.
Recently, Supreme Council members Kim Jae-won, Tae Young-ho, and Jo Su-jin have received a lot of criticism for their ‘words’.
Here, when the forest fire broke out last week, the ‘action’ of Gangwon Province Governor Kim Jin-tae and North Chungcheong Province Governor Kim Young-hwan was put on the cutting board.
On the 31st of last month, Gangwon Governor Kim Jin-tae visited a golf driving range while working to extinguish a forest fire in Hongcheon-gun, Gangwon-do, and Kim Young-hwan, governor of North Chungcheong Province, attended a drinking party while an evacuation order was issued for residents due to the Jecheon forest fire.
■ After practicing golf, he even attended a drinking party.
However, following further investigation, it was confirmed that Governor Kim Jin-tae practiced golf on the day of the forest fire in Hongcheon (3.31), then visited a restaurant and had a ‘drinking party’ with acquaintances.
Let’s review Governor Kim’s schedule on the 31st of last month, when Governor Kim visited the golf driving range.
On that day, Governor Kim attended the ‘Arbor Day Event’ in Goseong, Gangwon-do at 1:30 pm.
After the event, I returned to Chuncheon, where the Gangwon Provincial Office is located, and stopped by a controversial golf driving range.
The forest fire is in full swing, but why didn’t I go to the Gangwon Provincial Office and stop by the golf driving range all of a sudden? Even on weekday followingnoons. (After that, he explained that he had paid for an hour-long love leave, but it turned out that he had applied for it three days later, which only raised controversy)
It turns out that Governor Kim had scheduled a meal with his acquaintances at 6:00 this evening.
According to Gangwon Provincial Office officials and people around Kim, Governor Kim returned to Chuncheon following the Arbor Day event, but with only regarding an hour left before dinner, he did not go to the provincial office and stopped at the golf course for a while.
Governor Kim said that he did not originally go to play golf, but went to meet a golf driving range official and when he was not there, he practiced golf for regarding 30 minutes.
It is said that this golf driving range official and Governor Kim have been friends since Governor Kim was a prosecutor in the past. So, Governor Kim said that he often visited this place to practice golf.
The reporters asked the officials if Governor Kim usually practiced golf during the day, but only heard that “on weekdays, he usually comes in the early morning hours.”
■ If so, was it an inevitable drinking party?
Then, was the ‘dinner seat’ you found following practicing golf an inevitable place to go even in the midst of a forest fire?
After covering the people around Governor Kim, the appointment that evening was Governor Kim’s personal schedule, which was set before the forest fire.
On the 31st of last month, when Governor Kim practiced golf and even had a drink, Gangwon-do maintained a 24-hour emergency work system for forest fires.
Already on March 30, the previous day, a large forest fire broke out in Hwacheon-gun, Gangwon-do, and at one time, ‘Forest Fire Stage 2’ was issued, and the fire was only extinguished on the morning of the 31st, 18 hours later. A total of 900 firefighters were put in, and 70 hectares of forest were lost.
In addition, on the 31st, when Governor Kim played golf, there were wildfires in Wonju as well as in Hongcheon, and the fires were not completely extinguished until evening. More than 200 firefighters were put in at this time.
Regarding the dinner on the 31st, Governor Kim’s side has clarified its position, “It was a dinner appointment for a business agreement, and we cannot confirm whether or not he was drunk.”
It was claimed to be a ‘business agreement’, but the position was neither an official schedule nor disclosed to the outside world. In addition, although there was a drinking party, I do not readily understand the explanation that Governor Kim cannot confirm whether or not he has been drinking.
■ What was it like during the other forest fires?… Golf practice during the forest fire on March 18th
How did Governor Kim Jin-tae respond to other forest fires?
KBS collected and analyzed forest fire data from the Forest Service in March. I looked for wildfires that burned more forest than this on a ‘5 hectares’ basis, and there were two (18th and 31st) days in March.
On the 31st, it was the forest fire in Hongcheon, which we looked at earlier, and on the 18th, a forest fire broke out in Jinbu-myeon, Pyeongchang-gun, Gangwon-do. On that day, 20 hectares of forest were destroyed by the forest fire, and at one point, 7 residents of Singiri were evacuated.
However, as a result of confirmation by KBS reporters, it was confirmed that Governor Kim Jin-tae visited the golf driving range and practiced golf on this day.
Regarding this, Governor Kim explained, “It was a weekend and it was my personal time.” The Gangwon Provincial Office also added an explanation that the Jinbu-myeon forest fire on the 18th of last month was a “not big forest fire”.
However, when I checked the press release of the Forest Service at the time, it was revealed that the forest authorities had issued a ‘first stage of forest fire’ that day, and that they had devoted all their efforts to extinguishing the forest fire by putting out extinguishing personnel and special equipment even at night.
Of course, several spring wildfires occur in a single day. It is not possible to tell the governor to take care of all small forest fires.
However, it seems inappropriate for the head of the Disaster Management Headquarters in Gangwon-do, where large-scale forest fires are unusually common in spring, which always makes the entire nation nervous, to play golf during work hours and even have drinks in the evening on the days when forest fires occurred two days in a row.
An official from a metropolitan government said that it was the governor’s “political judgment and attitude” to deal with the disaster, but that he might not understand the behavior of Governor Kim this time. In particular, he said that even if he does not directly direct forest fire extinguishing, disaster response will be much faster if he directs various administrative support tasks as a provincial governor.
The details of the coverage on the spot will be delivered on KBS 9:00 News this evening.
The behavior of Governor Kim Jin-tae during the recent forest fires in Gangwon-do and North Chungcheong Province has raised questions and criticism from the public. It is understandable for the head of the Disaster Management Headquarters to focus on the response to the wildfires, but the governor’s golfing and drinking activities during this time have caused further controversy. While it is important to hold our leaders accountable, it is also necessary to remember that accidents can happen, and it’s important to work towards a better future. Hopefully, this situation can serve as a lesson for our political leaders to prioritize their responsibilities and duties to the people they serve.