MDP election committee head Choo Mi-ae is in Gwangju, where she is atoning for her party’s sins and trying to win back public support in the city (the MDP’s traditional stronghold) by performing a three-day Sam-bo Il-bae — a procession in which one walks three paces, performs a full bow, gets up and repeats. It’s a Buddhist practice that’s supposed to help rid one of the “Three Poisons” — greed, anger and delusion. It has, in recent years, become an increasingly popular form of peaceful protest. Anyway, Choo started her Sam-bo Il-bae at 4:44 p.m Saturday from Keumnam-no — five hours later, an exhausted Choo arrived at Gwangju Station, where she spent the night in a tent set up in front of the station. Tomorrow morning at 9:00, she’ll begin stepping and bowing her way to to the Mangwol-dong 5.18 National Cemetery — that’s a very long trip, and I gather she’ll need at least two days to do it.
Nice hanbok, BTW.
UPDATE: For another look at this tradition (in English), take a look here.
3 Comments
She should have come to Daegood if she really wanted to apologize for her betrayal.
That event exactly shows that “MinjuDang” figures are still obsessed with withering “regionalism.”
How poor she is!!!
I’d like to see Karl Rove do that from DC to L.A. (That is a smart-looking hanbok…)
It still is not enough. Maybe, if every last one of them did it, it might mean something. It is too little, too late and not what is required.
I too would love to see Karl Rove do the stretch!