“Not a sincere apology” ... Comedian sent 250 straws to Choo Mi-ae’s office

[Financial News] A comedian who objected to Gyeonggi Province Governor Choo Mi-ae’s remark describing the fire service as a “drain on public finances” sent 250 straws to the governor’s office at the Gyeonggi Provincial Government. Governor Choo apologized, saying she had not intended to disparage firefighters, but criticism questioning the sincerity of her apology continues among members of the public and fire service officials.
On the 18th, Lee Sang-min, a comedian and satirical current-affairs creator, posted a purchase receipt on Facebook with the message, “I’m sending straws to Governor Choo Mi-ae.” The photo showed five bundles of straws, 50 per bundle, for a total of 250. The delivery address was listed as the governor’s office at the Gyeonggi Provincial Government.
Lee said, “After hearing about Governor Choo’s apology, I considered canceling the delivery, but I didn’t because it was hard to see it as a sincere apology,” adding, “The straws arrived at the provincial government office this afternoon.”
There was also online criticism of Governor Choo’s remarks and the way she apologized. Posts on social media that day included, “Isn’t Governor Choo Mi-ae, who lives in a luxurious 1.2-billion-won official residence and drives an expensive government car, the real drain on public finances?” and “Is it really appropriate for a provincial governor to call the fire service, which protects around 14 million Gyeonggi residents, a drain on public finances?”
Online communities supportive of the Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), including Clien, also saw continued criticism, with some saying the remarks were hard to understand even in their full context and that the wording of the apology was inappropriate. Some DPK rights-holding members said they were asking the party leadership to “take strong action, including expelling Governor Choo from the party.”
Fire service labor unions called for reform of the fire service’s funding structure, saying an apology alone was not enough. In a statement released at around 10 p.m. on the 16th, the Korean Firefighters’ Union said, “What firefighters on the front lines need is not empty emotional consolation or grandiose rhetoric, but substantive budget reform.”
The union said, “Firefighters are still treated as ‘dead weight’ that drains the budget and have to watch their step around local governments.” It argued, “The root cause of this situation is the distorted budget structure, which makes local governments responsible for the personnel costs of firefighters, who are national government employees, as well as for fire service budgets.”
On the 18th, members of the Fire Service Integrated Public Officials’ Union held rotating one-person protests outside the Gyeonggi Provincial Government, holding placards that read, “Are firefighters really a drain on public finances?”
The Korean Firefighters’ Union also asked President Lee Jae-myung to resolve the fire service budget issue. The union called for “reform of the budget structure, not compensation worth its weight in gold,” and demanded, “Establish a dedicated fire service budget that pays personnel costs directly to the fire service from national funds, thereby making the transition to national-government status substantive.”

[email protected] Han Seung-gon Reporter