[CARD NEWS] The Notebook Princess, trapped by her cronies’ notebooks
1) Before the New Year begins, people look for new diaries.
In the digital world, the smartphone offers an all-in-one solution for managing schedules and writing memos. However, the popularity of old-school diaries or notebooks is not dying.
2) A planner can be a precious journal for chronicling the past and planning the future. However, a different image of planners represents lack of communication, obsession and conspiracy. The person who created this negative image is President Park Geun-hye.
3) President Park has carried her notebook like a lucky charm since 2004, when she was inaugurated as representative for the Grand National Party.
The Uri Party then criticized Park for repeating the words written in her notebook and sarcastically nicknamed her the “Notebook Princess.”
4) President Park tried to flip the negative image of the notebook to a policy planner.
In 2011, when Park supported a Saenuri lawmaker, Na Kyoung-won, who ran for mayor of Seoul, she proudly presented her notes that listed civic improvements.
5) Park even started a Facebook page called “Notebook Princess.”
“The Notebook Princess is Park Geun-hye’s avatar. The Notebook Princess thoroughly takes notes of what people say and puts those written words into practice. This is so she will not neglect anyone’s voice.” - An introductory comment for the Notebook Princess Facebook page
6) Park’s effort to reverse the image of her notebook remained when she ran for the presidency in 2012. She said the notebook symbolizes principle, trust, and promise. President Park’s praise for her diary continued even after she took office as president.
7) However, the notebook became a symbol of President Park’s tendency to trap herself in her own world and stay distant from the people. Many criticized her “notebook appointments” – Pro-Park personnel appointments that were not discussed with the public properly.
8) As a result, in 2016, the Notebook Princess was snared by the notes of her cronies.
The notebook of Ahn Chong-bum, the former presidential secretary for policy coordination, is likely to be proof of Park’s involvement in the Choi-gate scandal.
9) Ahn’s notes were filled with Park’s direct orders, and he filled 17 books and 510 total pages with them. The following note seems to be a direct remark from President Park.
10) FKI O, BH X
Constrained fund-raising X
Involved in the federations’ personnel appointments X
BH never took lead but only conferred
This note could be analyzed as “say that the fund-raising for the Mi-R and K Foundations were independently determined by the FKI, and the Blue House was never involved in this affair.”
Ahn’s testimony at the National Assembly was very similar to the note’s instructions.
11) The diary that the late Kim Young-han, former Blue House secretary for civil affairs, left is key evidence in this influence-peddling scandal.
12) How we wish the image of the notebook could symbolize “keeping promises to the people,” as President Park once said!
In reality, the notebook only confirmed her lack of communication.
We wish that what’s written in the notebook reveals the whole scandal.
13) “The Notebook Princess, trapped by her cronies’ notebooks”
It is frightening that Choi Soon-sil’s family plotted their corruption through Park’s notebook.
It is the irony of history that the fate of the “notebook princess” depends on the notes of her cronies, notes that were kept secretly.
- An JoongAng-Ilbo editorial ‘Global Eye’ by the Tokyo correspondent, Lee Jeong-heon
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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