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Victims of Seomun Market fire are outraged at President Park's 10-minute visit

Posted by alice10145 pts Saturday, December 3, 2016

On November 30, Seomun Market, a famous traditional-style marketplace in Daegu, experienced the worst fire disaster in its history. The fire that started on November 30 continued until December 2 -- for 59 hours total -- burning down over 800 small and large vendors and devastating the victims.

While the firefighters were still trying to put out the flames, President Park surprised everyone by paying a visit to Seomun Market -- the first official presidential activity in 35 days since her corruption scandal started to make headlines.

However, President Park's visit only last about 10 minutes, and she did not interact with any of the fire victims who were present in the area to try to salvage what hadn't been destroyed by the fire. After the president left, the market owners began to pour out their anger and disappointment towards the president in front of the many cameras and reporters who had gathered to capture President Park.

One vendor said angrily, "...What is this? She comes and gets photos taken, but she didn't talk to any of us. We lost everything. We are in a panic. And the president comes and doesn't talk to any store owners...Shouldn't she ask us, 'What can we do to help?' Everyone saw it. She came for 10 minutes and left...."

There was also a clash between victims and Park supporters. Market vendors were upset at the dozens of President Park supporters who showed up with banners and signs; victims said that they don't want their place of tragedy to become a site of political protest.

Many are guessing that this visit was arranged in an attempt to increase President Park's approval rating, which is at 4% as of this week. Daegu, the city that gave over 80% of their votes to President Park during the election, seems to be her place of hope. However, many Daegu citizens were unimpressed by the President's visit to the city.