Former South Korean President Park Geun Hye Reveals Handwritten Prison Memo

The handwritten memo that former South Korean President Park Geun Hye wrote in prison in the late fall of 2021, during her approximately five-year imprisonment, has been unveiled for the first time.

Park revealed the unpublished handwritten memo through the publisher “Joongang Book” at the book concert commemorating the publication of her memoir, “Through the Darkness to the Future,” held at a hotel in Daegu on the 5th.

It is said that Park handed over this memo to her close associate, attorney Yoo Young Ha, in late fall of 2021, about half a year before the 2022 presidential election, with the thought, “Wouldn’t everything be resolved if I take on all of this?”

In the memo at the time, Park said, “I quietly followed the procedures set by the Constitution and the law because I wanted to clear up lies and misunderstandings about me and to clarify that the public officials and businessmen who were with me worked for the country and the people.”

She wrote, “However, after the additional arrest warrant was issued against me on October 16, 2017, I judged that further trial procedures were meaningless. I asked for tolerance for public officials and businessmen, taking on all historical burdens and responsibilities instead.”

She also expressed her feelings, saying, “After that, watching the things I had done with all my heart while serving as President being branded as corruption and public officials who had worked faithfully in their duties being arrested was unbearable pain for me” and “I felt the futility of life when even those who had been with me since I started politics handed all the burdens over to me.”

Park recalled, “But I will accept all of this as a predetermined destiny,” and “It was rewarding to have firmly defended national security from the dark forces that destabilize this country as the President of the Republic of Korea, and to have worked to provide even a slightly better life to the people.”

She added, “I thought my life after the 2006 terror was given extra to dedicate to the country, so I have no regrets about myself.” She continued, “I will now bury all the burdens. I have no heart to blame or resent anyone,” and “I hope we can support each other and make a better Republic of Korea,” concluding her writing.

The memoir published on this day contains Park’s political journey for about ten years, from the end of 2012 after the 18th presidential election to moving into a private residence in Dalseong-gun, Daegu, in March 2022.