After visiting a firefighter’s wake, Choo Mi-ae apologizes for ‘fiscal straw’ remark: ‘No intent to disparage’

[Financial News] Gyeonggi Province Governor Choo Mi-ae expressed her thoughts on the 17th regarding the controversy over her so-called ‘fire-service fiscal straw’ remark, saying, ‘I sincerely apologize with all my heart.’
At the funeral hall of Soonchunhyang University Bucheon Hospital in Bucheon, where the wake was being held, Governor Choo responded to questions from reporters that afternoon, saying, ‘I would like to take this opportunity to express my deep regret for the parts that were conveyed differently from my intention.’
Governor Choo stressed, ‘The atmosphere was not one in which I could say something like that. It seemed that you were asking me to make such an apology at the fire scene yesterday as well, but I asked you not to ask because I felt this was an inappropriate place. It was not that I could not say those words of apology sincerely.’
She explained, ‘That day, in particular, questions and challenges kept coming about whether the declaration of a fiscal emergency for Gyeonggi Province’s finances as a whole could really be called an emergency. Since that question came at the end of it, I was talking about a structural financial problem: even after firefighters became national civil servants, the costs are still borne by local governments. In Gyeonggi, personnel costs in particular are around 1.2 trillion won, while government support is very limited—only about 80 billion won. That was the context in which I used that expression.’
She promised, ‘I had absolutely no intention of disparaging firefighters. I still don’t. If anything, I’d like to do more for them. I will ensure that support, including assistance to the bereaved families, is not neglected.’


[email protected] Yoo Seon-jun Reporter