The Man Who Cleared a Drain Alone on a Flooded Road... He Was a Provincial Assembly Member

The Scene of Drain Cleaning in Cheongju Gains Attention

In Cheongju, Chungbuk, where flooding damage occurred due to sudden heavy rain, the person who single-handedly unclogged the road drain was revealed to be Park Jae-ju, a member of the Chungbuk Provincial Assembly.

On the 23rd, a photo was posted on an online community. In the photo, a middle-aged man wearing a sleeveless shirt and black pants rolled up to his knees was unclogging a drain at Gaesin Five-way Intersection in front of Chungbuk National University in Cheongju, which was flooded by the sudden heavy rain.

A citizen is clearing the drain of a flooded road caused by a sudden heavy rain at Gaesin Five-way Intersection in front of Chungbuk National University, Cheongju, Chungbuk.
[Photo by online community 'BobaeDream' capture]

The poster shared this photo under the title "Brothers, please praise this gentleman." Comments on the post included "A small hero in reality," "A neighborhood uncle is doing what the local government should do," and "Respectable."

Later, through media reports, this citizen was identified as Park Jae-ju, a member of the Chungbuk Provincial Assembly. Living in Gaesin-dong, he called the police around 3:25 PM that day, reporting "the road is flooded," and then ran into the flooded road.

Earlier, around 3 PM on the 23rd, localized heavy rain fell in the Cheongju area, causing flooding damage to roads, houses, and various places. Fortunately, there were no casualties.

Within an hour, a deluge caused roads to flood, resulting in vehicles passing through Gaesin Five-way Intersection in front of Chungbuk National University being submerged, and roads in Yullyang-dong also suffered flood damage. Emergency drainage work was carried out for about two hours afterward.

In a media interview, Assemblyman Park said, "There was a major flood in this area in 2017, and yesterday, muddy water came onto the road just like back then," adding, "I thought the only thing I could do was to unclog the drain, so I just ran in."

He continued, "I just did what I had to do as a citizen and an assemblyman," and added, "I will work even harder in provincial administration."

Meanwhile, Park Jae-ju was elected chairman of the Ethics Special Committee in July. At that time, he expressed his ambition, saying, "I will strive to strengthen ethics and transparency so that I can be an assemblyman who meets the expectations and sentiments of the residents," and "I will always work to make the provincial assembly trustworthy through an objective and fair attitude."

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