In the office of Kim Dong-yeon, Governor of Gyeonggi Province, a handwritten will of former President Kim Dae-jung is hung on the wall, and below it, six glass cups and a teapot are neatly arranged.
Gyeonggi Province Governor Kim Dong-yeon was caught on video (Instagram) scolding a female secretary who brought him a cup of instant noodles because he had skipped lunch, saying, "Did you get hired to do this kind of work?" The video circulated widely on the internet throughout the weekend, raising suspicions that it might have been staged, but it has been confirmed that this is not true.
According to Gyeonggi Province on the 5th, there are six glass teacups placed on the table inside Governor Kim Dong-yeon's office at the provincial government building. They are located just below the late President Kim Dae-jung’s last will, which reads, "I believed in history and the people until the very end." Next to the teacups is a teapot for brewing tea. Visitors or staff members are encouraged to serve themselves tea. Governor Kim Dong-yeon does not hesitate to personally serve teacups to guests. The reason for having a teacup set in the office is to prevent female secretaries from having to run errands for tea while working.
Governor Kim Dong-yeon's consideration for female staff does not end there. During his tenure, he personally visited female employees who were about to take maternity leave several times to offer support along with a gift. The gift was a "Governor’s Pizza Voucher."
This symbolic gift conveys the message of "celebrating the precious decision of childbirth and ensuring that there will be no disadvantages in personnel matters upon returning from leave." Governor Kim Dong-yeon has taken direct care to ensure that these employees do not suffer any setbacks in performance evaluations, assignments, or promotions by repeatedly instructing the personnel department.
Governor Kim Dong-yeon has also been subject to "misunderstandings that are not misunderstandings" as the video spread online.
Kang Min-seok, spokesperson for Gyeonggi Province, said, "After the video circulated on the internet, we received quite a few questions about when the video was taken," adding, "The meeting in the video took place about 3 to 4 months ago, quite some time ago. You can tell because Governor Kim Dong-yeon is wearing a long-sleeved shirt in the video."
Spokesperson Kang emphasized, "Official meetings presided over by the governor are often recorded for documentation and sharing. The meeting in question was filmed by a secretary in charge of recording using a mobile phone, and after sharing parts of it, it was stored. The video was posted to convey messages such as that women should no longer be confined to shadow labor," adding, "It was not originally filmed to be posted on Instagram. If that were the case, it would have been uploaded months ago."
As of the 5th, Governor Kim Dong-yeon's video has received 6,976 likes and 534 comments. Notably, only about 10 comments (2%) are negative, such as malicious remarks, while 98% are overwhelmingly positive.
Among the comments, a short one that accurately captures Governor Kim Dong-yeon's thoughts stands out: "'Shadow labor' out. Strong support."
Shadow labor refers to unpaid work that exists like a shadow to support paid labor. The term was first coined by Austrian philosopher Ivan Illich. He cited housework and childcare as representative examples. According to Illich, tasks such as running errands for coffee or tea and making instant noodles could broadly be considered shadow labor.
Some comments also shared vivid testimonies of shadow labor: "I was the only young female employee, with a pile of work to do, but my boss would tell me to serve coffee to guests," and "I remember my boss who, when I was pregnant, bought me a Starbucks sandwich, asked me to make coffee, and took care of the change."
When the video became a hot topic, Governor Kim Dong-yeon said, "The female employees at the provincial government passed the civil service exam to get here. Should such female employees be doing menial tasks? Many female employees should also rise to executive positions," emphasizing, "To do that, they need to develop their abilities through work. They should not be running errands for tea during work hours."
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