Former President Park addresses crowd in Daegu, dodges one soju bottle

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Former President Park addresses crowd in Daegu, dodges one soju bottle

Bodyguards surround former President Park Geun-hye after a soju bottle was thrown at her while she was speaking to supporters and the media outside her residence in Dalseong-gun, Daegu, soon after her release from the hospital on Thursday morning. [YONHAP]

Bodyguards surround former President Park Geun-hye after a soju bottle was thrown at her while she was speaking to supporters and the media outside her residence in Dalseong-gun, Daegu, soon after her release from the hospital on Thursday morning. [YONHAP]

 
Former President Park Geun-Hye promised to devote "whatever little strength" she has to the country's development, upon arriving in her hometown of Daegu following her discharge from the hospital on Thursday morning.
 
Park was granted a pardon by outgoing President Moon Jae-in just before Christmas last year while serving a 22-year sentence for her role in a vast corruption scandal that led to her impeachment and removal from office.
 
Smiling brightly as she exited the hospital at 8:32 a.m., Park thanked the medical staff at Samsung Medical Center in Gangnam District, southern Seoul, as well as her supporters for their good wishes, crediting them for her recovery.
 
"I offer my greetings to people after five years," Park said in her public remarks outside the hospital. “Thanks for your concerns, I have recovered a lot.”
 
The former president’s deteriorating health after four years and nine months in prison was cited by the Blue House as the reason for Moon’s decision to grant her a pardon.
 
While photographs of Park in recent months showed her wearing drab in-patient garments and a white dressing gown as she was escorted in a wheelchair in and out of hospitals during her imprisonment, she wore a dark blue overcoat with matching trousers — reminiscent of the fashion she sported during her presidency — on the occasion of her release from hospital.
 
Following her remarks outside of the hospital, Park traveled by car to the National Cemetery in Dongjak District, southern Seoul, where her father, the late president and dictator Park Chung Hee, is interred.
 
Park placed a basket of flowers in tribute to the deceased president before departing for her hometown of Daegu.
 
Upon arrival at her Daegu residence, Park apologized for having “disappointed” people, in apparent reference to the vast corruption committed by her and her confidante Choi Soon-sil, who used her ties to Park to extort huge sums of money from Samsung and other companies for a foundation controlled by Choi and for Choi’s daughter’s dressage career.
 
Supporters of former President Park Geun-hye gathered outside her residence in Daegu to greet her arrival on Thursday. [SONG BONG-GEUN]

Supporters of former President Park Geun-hye gathered outside her residence in Daegu to greet her arrival on Thursday. [SONG BONG-GEUN]

 
“I am thankful that so many people have come here to welcome me like this, even though I fell short and disappointed you,” Park said in her comments to hundreds of supporters and well-wishers gathered outside her residence.
 
“As president, I worked hard for the country and for the people, but there are still many dreams I failed to realize that are now up to others,” she said. “I am going to devote whatever little strength I have to help good and talented people contribute to the development of Korea.”
 
Shortly after she began speaking, a man threw a soju bottle at her, but it missed and she was not injured.
 
Park did not make any references in her remarks to president-elect Yoon Suk-yeol, who played a pivotal role in her downfall by investigating the corruption allegations against Park that sparked her impeachment.
 
In comments to reporters on Thursday, Yoon said he planned to visit Park during his tour of the country’s provinces next week, and that she would be invited to his inauguration ceremony along with all former presidents.
 
The Blue House said that President Moon sent a congratulatory orchid to Park wishing her good health, to which Park responded by saying she hopes Moon will finish his term well and take care of his health.

BY MICHAEL LEE [lee.junhyuk@joongang.co.kr]
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