Presidential Office: Lunar New Year Gifts with Crosses to Buddhist Community "Not Intended to Exclude Any Religion"

On the 1st, the Presidential Office explained that the inclusion of a cross drawing on the packaging of Lunar New Year gifts sent to the Buddhist community was chosen to support Hansen's disease patients who suffered from illness and prejudice, and to express the hope that Sorokdo would become an island of healing, selecting paintings drawn by (Hansen's disease patient) artists for the gift packaging. Lee Gwan-seop, Chief of Staff to the President and head of the Presidential Office Buddhist Association, and Hwang Sang-mu, Senior Secretary for Civil Society, visited the Jogye Order General Headquarters to apologize.

A Presidential Office official said in the afternoon at the Yongsan Presidential Office, when asked by a reporter about the inclusion of a cross drawing and a prayer containing the word "Amen" in the Lunar New Year gifts sent to the Buddhist community, "The artwork on this gift was not intended to endorse or exclude any particular religion," explaining as such.

The official reiterated, "We will be more careful in the future."

The Presidential Office announced the day before that "traditional liquor Lunar New Year gifts and handwritten message cards from the President will be delivered to senior figures from various fields who have devoted themselves to national and social development, uniformed heroes and their families, and socially disadvantaged groups."

The Lunar New Year gifts included Baekilju (a traditional liquor for ancestral rites) from Gongju, citron syrup from Goheung, pine nuts from Gapyeong, and jerky from Hoengseong. For the Buddhist community, acacia honey from Nonsan and dried shiitake mushrooms from Yangyang were delivered instead of Baekilju and jerky.

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The gift packaging featured images of a woman holding a rosary, a church, and a cathedral, drawn by inpatients at the National Sorokdo Hospital, which caused controversy. Additionally, a prayer by Hansen's disease patients beginning with "Thank you, God the Father full of love" and ending with "Amen" was also included.

On the same afternoon, Chief Lee and Senior Secretary Hwang visited Jinwoo Sunim, the head of the Jogye Order General Headquarters, to express their apologies. Chief Lee said, "While sending presidential gifts to many citizens, religious communities, and great monks, we were careless and thoughtless, resulting in the inclusion of symbols of another religion in gifts sent to the great monks, which was a grave disrespect." He also promised to recall undelivered gifts and repackage them before sending.

Jinwoo Sunim responded, "I was somewhat surprised when I received the report earlier, but I think it is fortunate that you came so quickly and provided this explanation."

He added, "Since this was not done intentionally, I will ask our followers for some understanding and, considering the goodwill shown, I think it is quite fortunate. I will explain this accordingly. However, please ensure that such incidents do not happen again in the future," requesting.

After the meeting between Senior Secretary Hwang, Chief Lee, and Jinwoo Sunim, Hwang told reporters, "There was a Hansen's disease patient exhibition catalog, and there has been no group in our country more suffering from hardship, disease, and social exclusion than those in Sorokdo. Therefore, I hope that this Lunar New Year occasion will encourage our society to show warmth and more attention. Also, since this place has some cultural heritage, the intention was to remind the public of that. It seems our staff made a somewhat thoughtless mistake while preparing this."

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