Park Ji-won, Appearance Immediately After Martial Law Lift Proposal Passed
Online Spread as '83-Year-Old Park Ji-won Ong'
"Not 83, 82-Year-Old Gold Boy" Age Correction
Immediately after the release proposal was passed, Representative Park Ji-won showed clear signs of exhaustion. Photo by Park Ji-won Facebook
On the early morning of the 4th, right after the emergency martial law lifting proposal was passed, a photo of Park Ji-won, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, collapsed as if exhausted, drew attention. Park himself posted a witty comment about it, saying, "Nasty photojournalist! Taking a picture of me while I’m sleeping."
On the 5th, Park Ji-won posted this message on his Facebook. He corrected the misinformation circulating online that he was 83 years old, stating, "My age is not 83 but 82, the Gold Boy."
The confusion about his age being 83 instead of 82, although he was born in 1942, stemmed from a photo that became a hot topic online. Around 10:30 PM on the 3rd, President Yoon Seok-yeol suddenly declared martial law. From 11 PM that night, members of the National Assembly began gathering at the National Assembly building one after another. Although the police started blocking the gates and controlling access, Park had already entered the National Assembly earlier. Later, lawmakers climbed over the wall to gather inside, and at 1:01 AM, with 190 members present, the proposal to lift martial law was unanimously passed.
At that time, armed soldiers were stationed outside the main assembly hall. Amid the tightening tension, the lawmakers could not relax their minds, and right after the lifting proposal was passed, exhaustion was evident. Park Ji-won also seemed to have let his guard down, lying on a chair and falling asleep, which was captured in the photo. The photo quickly spread across various social networking services (SNS) and online communities with the caption "83 years old, Park Ji-won."
After referring to the photojournalist who took a picture of him sleeping with his mouth open as a "nasty photojournalist," Representative Park corrected his age by saying, "I am not 83 years old, but an 82-year-old Gold Boy." Park Jiwon Facebook
Born in 1942, Park Ji-won experienced the Korean War in June 1950, the May 16 military coup in 1961, the Yushin Declaration in 1972, and the October 26 incident in 1979. He has lived through all 17 martial law declarations in the history of the Republic of Korea.
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