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Observer snubs Park Geun-hye at polling station

June 4, 2014
Park Geun-hye

When Park offered him her hand, this man kept his hands closed and stared calmly ahead, which resulted in one of the most memorable election-day images.

By Kim Tong-hyung

After casting her local election ballot in Hyoja-dong, Seoul, President Park Geun-hye circled the polling station shaking hands with people monitoring the voting.

But Kim Han-wool, a bearded, pony-tailed election observer from the left-leaning Labor Party, was having none of it.

When Park offered him her hand, Kim kept his hands closed and stared calmly ahead, which resulted in one of the most memorable election-day images.

Park, apparently taken aback, appeared to say something to Kim, to which he replied, ”I am an election observer.”

Kim, chief secretary of the Labor Party’s Jongno branch, told reporters he refused to shake hands with Park because he felt that she had disrespected victims of the Sewol ferry disaster, which claimed more than 300 lives.

One Comment

  1. james kim

    June 4, 2014 at 10:11 PM

    this is what is wrong with Korea today: blaming the blameless, disrespecting your elders/leaders, arrogance, male in what? with pony tail? Get a life, chump!

    Reply