I walk into the journalism room ready to start my work day. The bell to start the period won’t ring for another 2 minutes, but I figure I’ll get an early start on the day. Our news cycle for the most recent issue of the school paper had just ended, so I prepare to start the arduous process of starting a new story. But first, I need material and inspiration. I open Chrome, trying to look for good news stories. The top headline on the BBC’s website read “Key figure in South Korea political crisis says she ‘deserves death’”. As far as inspiration goes, it looks interesting enough. I click the link.

Reading through the story, I double take too many times to count. “Thousands Protesting in the Streets of Seoul”? I didn’t even know there was a scandal in South Korea! Whenever South Korea is in the news, it’s usually only something to do with exploding phones or North Korea.

I look up more articles to get information from. According to CNN, the president Park Geun Hye had been controlled by a shaman woman, claiming to be able to communicate with the dead. I don’t understand how I hadn’t heard of this before, just on merit of the story’s ridiculousness. Maybe it just got lost in the sea of all the election drama. Reading further into the story, it gets more and more ridiculous. Park’s fat
her had been the authoritarian leader of South Korea after the Korean War. When he was assassinated, she and her mother found solace in a family friend, who claimed she could communicate with the dead. Now, at 64, Park is still regularly communicating with the daughter of that woman. She claims to be a shaman with similar powers passed down from her mother.

I find a video that has surfaced depicting Choi Soon-sil buying suites for Park to wear at international conventions. The video also shows Choi eating fried chicken and touching said suites with her bear greasy hands. The video illustrates how much personal trust Park put into Choi, and how much Choi abused it. According to staffers and people involved in the scandal, Choi also benefitted from numerous
business deals facilitated by Park’s presidency, supposedly garnering billions of dollars in ill gotten gains.

After re-shuffling her staff and firing aides, Park is still under fire and many South Koreans are calling for her impeachment. Some are calling for her death. Whatever happens, this will not end well for Park Geun Hye.