I began to write on Korean politics and whatnot for a newborn webzine The Dissolve. This was the first piece I wrote:
Speech has never been President Park’s strong suit. Dull and inarticulate, the way she speaks in public haunted her aides during her (ultimately) successful presidential campaign in 2012 and after.
She rarely shows her real self in a press conference and even when she does, the Blue House insists that journalists stick to a prepared outline (as in 2014, when she had her first press conference one year after the inauguration and then again in 2016). When she faced cameras (three times) to explain herself in the aftermath of the Choi Soon-sil scandal, she took no questions from journalists.
Thus her rare interview just before the lunar new year’s holiday came as a shock to many, myself included. Better yet, her choice of outlet was beyond everyone’s imagination…