Controversy Over Kim Jung-sook's Private Pyramid Visit... Tak Hyun-min Says "Opposition's Ignorant Comments, They Try Hard"

Tak Hyun-min "Slander and distortion over historic site visits were clearly expected"
Opposition "First Lady Kim Jung-sook's pyramid visit is a bucket list item"

President Moon Jae-in and First Lady Kim Jung-sook, who completed a tour of three Middle Eastern countries including the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Saudi Arabia, and Egypt, arrived at Seongnam Seoul Airport on the morning of the 22nd of last month and are seen disembarking from Air Force One and moving.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Heo Midam] It was recently revealed that First Lady Kim Jung-sook, wife of President Moon Jae-in, made a private visit to the UNESCO World Heritage site, the Pyramids, during the President's Middle East tour last month. The opposition party criticized the presidential summit as "First Lady Kim’s bucket list fulfillment." In response, Tak Hyun-min, the Blue House Protocol Secretary, dismissed the criticism, stating, "It was simply at Egypt’s request."

On the afternoon of the 3rd, Secretary Tak posted on his Facebook, "When foreign heads of state make state visits, we propose various schedules including visits to our cultural heritage sites or events to foster friendship between leaders," he began. "There is always an intention to create schedules for promoting our tourism products, economic benefits, and goodwill between the two countries whenever a foreign leader visits."

He continued, "The First Lady’s visit to the Egyptian pyramids was in the same context," explaining, "Egypt strongly requested from the beginning that the President and the First Lady visit the pyramids together. From our perspective, we also always request foreign leaders to visit our cultural heritage sites or on-site locations during their visits, so we tried to accommodate the request but ultimately declined."

He added, "Although the President had important schedules such as the summit and matters related to the K9 self-propelled howitzer, it was also clear that there would be slander and misinterpretation regarding the visit to the Egyptian heritage site."

Secretary Tak said, "However, Egypt has never omitted the pyramid visit schedule for any foreign head of state on a state visit, so they requested reconsideration. After much deliberation, we agreed that the First Lady would visit with a minimal number of people on the condition of privacy. Egypt was somewhat disappointed and the Minister of Culture personally came to guide the visit," adding, "Egypt regretted that the President’s visit to the pyramids did not materialize."

He further stated, "Why would a head of state on a state visit refuse to visit the other country’s cultural heritage sites? Egypt was very puzzled by the fact that only the First Lady would go and that it had to be a private visit," and said, "I could not explain it in a way they could understand."

First Lady Kim Jung-sook receives a doll dressed in hanbok as a gift during a meeting with Egyptian Korean culture promotion experts at a hotel in Cairo, Egypt, on the 20th of last month (local time). [Image source=Yonhap News]

Secretary Tak questioned, "When foreign leaders visit, we always try to arrange visits to our heritage sites, economic locations, or at least a Blue House tour. How could we possibly explain the reason for rejecting Egypt’s request?"

In conclusion, he directly addressed the opposition party’s "ignorant comments about a bucket list" and media outlets that "boldly disclosed the private schedule agreed upon by both countries, misleading the public as if the First Lady’s pyramid visit was an inappropriate trip," saying, "They really put in a lot of effort."

Earlier, during her stay in Cairo, Egypt from the 19th to the 21st of last month, the First Lady toured the pyramids with the Egyptian Minister of Culture. President Moon reportedly did not accompany her due to other schedules.

Jang Young-il, the standing deputy spokesperson of the People Power Party’s election campaign headquarters, criticized the First Lady’s pyramid visit in a statement, saying, "We suspected it, and indeed, this is why criticism of the leisure-like tour continues."

Deputy Spokesperson Jang pointed out, "At that time, the military’s guard was compromised due to the iron fence defection incident, a young pilot died in a fighter jet crash, and security tensions escalated due to North Korea’s successive missile launches."

He added, "Above all, the Omicron surge was beginning with 4,500 confirmed COVID-19 cases at the time," and claimed, "However, President Moon pushed forward with the tour, disregarding the suffering of the people."

Deputy Spokesperson Jang also raised suspicions that "the Blue House may have concealed the COVID-19 positive status of a staff member who accompanied the tour, fearing the pyramid visit would be revealed," and said, "What the public wants is a sincere apology and reflection, not a bulletproof explanation from the Blue House."

Kim Geun-sik, former head of the People Power Party’s election strategy analysis office, also wrote on Facebook, "It was a graduation trip to fulfill the First Lady’s bucket list," adding, "It was strange that the First Lady accompanied the Middle East tour without a clear reason."

He continued, "Visiting an Islamic country where the First Lady’s activities are rarely publicized, and where she has no external engagements, the reason she went was obviously to tour the pyramids," criticizing, "Whether it’s Kim Hye-kyung who treated public officials like servants, or the First Lady who abused the presidential summit for her personal bucket list, it’s all the same."

Later, he posted again on Facebook, targeting Secretary Tak, saying, "You ‘ignorantly’ work hard to shield the First Lady at the end of the term," and criticized, "The funniest part of Secretary Tak’s explanation is that the pyramid visit was reluctantly done privately at Egypt’s request for promotional purposes. If the purpose was to widely publicize it, why did they conduct a ‘secret’ ‘stealth’ tour?"

He added, "Even if we accept Secretary Tak’s excuse that Egypt could not understand the privacy, logically, if Egypt could not accept the private visit, they should have either abandoned the private tour or made it public. The excuses contradict each other and the steps are tangled."

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