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South Korean Presidency Allegedly Controlled by Cult
Members of civic groups at a protest march in Seoul demanding President Park Geun-hye step down. Photo: EPA
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Last week South Korean President Park Geun-hye apologised to the nation as she faced the biggest scandal of her career.
The controversy centred on Park having allowed her long-time friend, Choi Soon-sil to edit some of her speeches in advance, raising questions about how much power Choi held. Was she making decisions the people of Korea had entrusted Park to make? Could Choi be running the country for her own personal benefit? Allegations spread that the president was a member of a cult, that Choi had shamanistic power over her, that Park had been casting spells in public and that the government was secretly run by a group of cult members known as the “Eight Fairies”.
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Trouble began last October, when the Federation of Korean Industries (FKI) created the Mir Foundation to promote Korean culture. Three months later, it created the K-Sports Foundation to promote Korean sports. But heads started to turn when it was revealed Mir had managed to raise US$42.8 million in just two days and K-Sports raised US$25.4 million in under six. Choi, who virtually created the two foundations herself, had allegedly used her ties to Park to dragoon conglomerates like Samsung Electronics, Hyundai Motor and LG Group into giving these lavish sums.
Social media sizzled with stories of Choi’s shamanistic hold on Park, rumours that stemmed from the fact that Choi’s late father, Choi Tae-min, had been the leader of a cult who contacted Park after her mother’s assassination in 1974, telling her he’d met her mother in a dream. Park met him, and he soon became her mentor. According to a 2011 WikiLeaks release, US Ambassador Alexander Vershbow referred to Tae-min as “Korea’s Rasputin”.
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After allegations emerged that Park had been sending Choi her speeches in advance, Chief of Staff Lee Won-jong responded to the rumours by saying, “You’d have to be crazy to believe this.” But in the week since, evidence has been released proving that, in fact, Choi had access to Park’s speeches.
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Things took a stranger turn when rumour surfaced that Choi had created a cabal, or cult called the “Eight Fairies” to control state affairs, and that Park had changed the National Intelligence Service’s seal to an image of a dragon – since dragon symbolism is central to the cult.
Park’s future is now uncertain. Her approval slipped to an abysmal 17 per cent on Thursday, from 25 per cent on Tuesday, according to a Gallup Korea poll. Student groups throughout the country have begun to plan candlelight vigils demanding the president resign and be impeached.
“This isn’t even a dictatorship,” Choo Mi-ae, chairwoman of the Minjoo Party, said. “it’s a terrifying theocracy.”
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