"Truly Don't Understand the People's Hearts" From Park Neung-hoo to Jeong Sye-gyun... Self-Promotion Amid 'Corona'

Controversy Surrounds Park Neung-hoo's Chuseok Poster and Jeong Se-gyun Cartoon in Government Promotions
Civilians Criticize, "Is This Government Promotion?" and "Aren't You Ashamed Before Medical Staff?"

A 3-panel comic titled "When You're Struggling Due to COVID-19, Vent to the Prime Minister - COVID-19 Depression Edition -" posted on the official Twitter account of the Prime Minister's Office on the 14th./Photo by Twitter capture

[Asia Economy Reporter Kang Juhee] As the serious situation continues with the number of new domestic COVID-19 cases surpassing 1,000, criticism is rising that the government's promotional materials are increasing public fatigue after repeatedly becoming the subject of controversy.

In October, the government released a Chuseok greeting poster featuring Minister of Health and Welfare Park Neung-hoo as a model, and Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun unveiled a comic strip suggesting that people should vent their frustrations caused by the prolonged COVID-19 situation to him. Although these promotional materials were created with the intention of wishing for the public’s peace, they have been criticized for focusing more on 'self-promotion' rather than offering genuine comfort that understands the pain.

On the 14th, the official Twitter account of the Office for Government Policy Coordination and the Prime Minister’s Secretariat posted a three-panel comic titled "When COVID-19 is tough, vent to the Prime Minister - COVID-19 Depression Edition -".

The comic depicts a woman suffering from skin troubles complaining about the inconveniences caused by COVID-19. The woman angrily says, "Because of you, COVID, I can’t even go outside comfortably, and my skin is breaking out because of the mask. How are you going to take responsibility?" and "I’m so angry because of COVID, where can I vent?"

In the next panel, Prime Minister Chung appears wearing a yellow civil defense uniform with one hand on his chest. With a kind expression, he says, "Please vent everything to me. If you are struggling, irritated, or feeling depressed because of COVID-19, please vent to me freely. I hope your frustration will ease even a little."

After the comic was released, strong criticism arose among citizens. The public’s economic and psychological hardships caused by COVID-19 were reduced to 'a woman’s skin troubles,' and the Prime Minister appeared as if only he was kind-hearted, leading to accusations that the comic focused solely on 'self-promotion' rather than genuine consolation.

Netizens commented, "Where is the public’s desperate cry due to economic collapse? Instead, they post stuff about 'skin breaking out because of masks'," "The whole nation is suffering, but it sounds like only the government is sacrificing," "With over 1,000 new cases daily, why aren’t they focusing on measures but doing things like this?" and "If they truly care about people’s livelihoods and the public, they should do proper work behind the scenes."

Chuseok greeting poster released by the Ministry of Health and Welfare last October. / Photo by Ministry of Health and Welfare Facebook capture

This is not the first time the government’s promotional materials have caused problems. Earlier in October, the Ministry of Health and Welfare released a Chuseok greeting poster featuring Minister Park Neung-hoo and Vice Ministers Kim Gang-rip and Kang Do-tae as models, which sparked controversy.

The poster intended to convey the message that "we will strive to ensure the public’s safety during the COVID-19 situation," but the prominent appearance of the ministers posing like actors on the front of the poster led to criticism such as "I thought it was an election campaign poster," and "Medical staff work tirelessly day and night behind the scenes, aren’t they ashamed of this?"

As the government repeatedly stirred controversy with inappropriate promotional materials, some argue that the government is adding to the public’s fatigue amid already difficult daily lives due to COVID-19.

Kim, a worker in their 20s, said, "In this urgent situation where we are approaching level 3 social distancing, it’s absurd to think of such promotions. It just feels like they are using tax money for their own promotion," and added, "If they stayed quiet, there wouldn’t be controversy, so I don’t understand why they keep stirring up people’s feelings with these promotions. If they truly empathized with the public’s pain, they wouldn’t create such materials."

Former Dongyang University professor Jin Joong-kwon shared the controversial Ministry of Health and Welfare poster on his Facebook in October and sarcastically criticized it, saying, "This is all because of global warming. As the weather gets hotter, now they have a horror special for Chuseok. The moonlit cemetery and such things are called 'uncanny' in technical terms. It refers to something strange, eerie, and creepy. Surrealists often used this effect."

Meanwhile, the number of new domestic COVID-19 cases was recorded at 718 as of midnight on the 14th, down by 312 from 1,030 the previous day. However, health authorities view this as a temporary phenomenon due to the holiday effect. They expect the number of new cases announced as of midnight on the 15th to rise again to around 900 at minimum, possibly more.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.