Return relay: Liberal lawmakers send back presidential gifts in protest

Liberal lawmakers took to social media to announce their rejection of the presidential Chuseok gift, a common occurrence over the years as a form of protest.

Presidential gift for the 2024 Chuseok holiday [PRESIDENTIAL OFFICE]

Liberal lawmakers comprising the bloc of opposition to the conservative party aligned with the top office are in a relay of rejecting holiday gifts from President Yoon Suk Yeol.

Democratic Party (DP) Rep. Lee Sung-yoon posted a photo of a gift sent by a presidential couple on his Facebook page earlier in the month with the caption, “Why does [the president] keep sending presents like a stalker when the recipient does not want to accept it?” He added that he would “leave the package in front of the door."

He also asked Yoon to stop investigations against former president Moon Jae-in — who was politically aligned with the DP during his term. He has likened the ongoing prosecutorial investigations into bribery charges against Moon to “stalker-like” behavior.

Rep. Kim Joon-hyung from the liberal Rebuilding Korea Party also uploaded a photo showing him returning the delivered gift to a courier. He wrote that the president “unilaterally sent the gift to him by ignoring his stance” — an unwillingness to accept the present.

He explained that he did not want to see the gift from a president who failed to communicate with the people. He asked Yoon “to take care of public livelihoods rather than spend his precious time in sending such gifts.”

Rep. Jung Hye-kyung of the liberal Jinbo Party also joined the gesture of refusing the presidential gift. She said, “I hereby refuse a present from President Yoon, who ignores his sovereigns,” according to the JoongAng Ilbo.

Rep. Kim Joon-hyung of the liberal Rebuilding Korea Party returns a presidential gift to a parcel service worker in a photo posted on his Facebook. [SCREEN CAPTURE]

Such refusals have precedents.

In September 2017, several conservative lawmakers sent back then-President Moon’s gifts to protest his appointment of Kim Myeong-su as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. The boycotters included then-Rep. Cho Won-jin of Our Republican Party and a strong advocate of then-President Park Geun-hye, who was impeached in March 2017.

In September 2016, then-DP lawmaker Pyo Chang-won refused to accept a presidential gift from Park. His office explained that the rejection was an exemplary action before the antigraft law became effective.

Back then, DP lawmaker Cho Eung-cheon also made a hassle over Park’s presidential gift. Cho, who served as presidential secretary for civil service discipline under Park, turned liberal after being investigated for alleged involvement in a presidential document leakage scandal. The court cleared him of the charges.

He wrote on his Facebook page that he “did not receive the presidential gift,” and the Blue House refuted that it “did not exclude Cho” from the recipient list. Later, the top office said it canceled the gift delivery after assuming Cho would have declined the present from Park.

What is inside the presidential gift package has been at the center of public attention.

The presidential gift for the 2024 Lunar New Year [PRESIDENTIAL OFFICE]

In February, the Korean Buddhist community expressed discontent over Yoon’s present for the Lunar New Year holiday, which had packaging depicting a Christian cross and the text of the Lord’s Prayer. The package also contained a card written by patients with leprosy, which included phrase “Amen.”

Lee Kwan-sup, then-chief of staff, visited and apologized to Korea’s largest Buddhist community, the Jogye Order. Lee asked for “forgiveness for the lack of courtesy.”

In 2008, former President Lee Myung-bak had to replace his present comprising dried pollock from Gangwon, jujubes from South Chungcheong, traditionally dried seaweed from North Jeolla and Korean anchovies from South Chungcheong with tea set, after his office was criticized for the "disrespectful gesture" of sending a product made of living creatures.

The presidential gift for the 2009 Lunar New Year given during the Lee Myung-bak administration comprised rice cakes and shiitake mushrooms. [JOONGANG ILBO]

On the contrary, his predecessor, former President Roh Moo-hyun, was in the hot seat after sending tea and plates. Of the recipients, there were victims who suffered from heavy rainfall. Criticisms that such a tea set is a luxury item inappropriate as a gift to the victims prompted the Blue House to change the item.

A political insider expressed regret over the excessively sensitive reactions of both political parties, noting that political fray should end at criticism of the government's misbehavior in a healthy manner.

The source expressed bitterness over such friction repeating during holiday seasons when people are supposed to have their hearts filled with love and warmth.

BY KIM JEONG-JAE, LEE SOO-JUNG [lee.soojung1@joongang.co.kr]