Kim Young-sam and Roh Tae-woo's Sons Surprise with Commentary During Visit to Cheongwadae Presidential Exhibition

Kim Hyun-chul "Early Morning Jogging, Preparing to Refine Determination"
No Jae-heon "'The Era of Ordinary People' is Based on Music"

Kim Hyun-chul, son of former President Kim Young-sam (Chairman of the Kim Young-sam Presidential Foundation), and Noh Jae-heon, son of former President Roh Tae-woo (Chairman of the East Asia Culture Center), visited the Blue House main building and reminisced about old memories. According to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism on the 5th, they served as narrators for the exhibition "Stories of Our Presidents - Here Were Presidents" on the 3rd and 4th, respectively. Both have experience living in the Blue House in the past.

Chairman Kim shared stories about his father, former President Kim Young-sam's time at the Blue House with visitors. Standing in front of jogging shoes, a symbolic item representing the former president, he said, "My father's presidential term was a series of decisions, and his early morning jogging was a time to prepare and refine those decisions." He added, "On the day he announced the implementation of the real-name financial system, he was planning how to make the announcement and ran much faster than usual. At the time, no one knew why he was running so fast. This shows the suddenness of the implementation of the real-name financial system."

He also shared an anecdote about President Kim's competitive spirit when jogging inside the Blue House grounds with then U.S. President Bill Clinton during his visit. "Their jogging pace gradually increased, and in the end, they ran as if it were a 100-meter sprint," he said.

The next day, Chairman Noh, who visited the exhibition, stood in front of a tungso (a traditional Korean bamboo flute) displayed as a personal item of his father, former President Roh Tae-woo, and explained, "This is an old tungso that my father used to play himself." He added, "When my father was seven years old, his grandfather passed away. I heard that his grandfather, who loved music, left this as a memento." He continued, "When my father was lonely and sad during his childhood without his father, he washed away his sorrow with the tungso and music," and elaborated, "This musical sensibility of my father laid the foundation for declaring the 'Era of Ordinary People.'" He also joked, "My father was quite good at playing the tungso and singing, but I don't think that DNA came to me," which made the visitors burst into laughter.

The exhibition, which opened on the 1st, is designed in a friendly manner centered around symbolic items of twelve former presidents. As of the 4th, 23,880 visitors have attended. A Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism official said, "On the weekend of the 3rd and 4th alone, 17,145 people visited," adding, "The main building's simultaneous capacity is limited to 200 people, so during peak times, the waiting line in front of the main building reached nearly 200 meters." The exhibition continues until August 28th, along with the "Invitation, Portrait" exhibition held at the Chunghwagwan building.