Chapter 28 Grand National Party

On December 10, 1997, eight days after the presidential election, I decided to support Lee Hoi-chang, the presidential candidate of the Grand National Party, and officially participated in the campaign.The reason why I chose the Grand National Party is because I believe that candidate Lee Hoi-chang has been a clean and capable leader for a long time. If we work together with candidate Lee Hoi-chang, I believe that the IMF economic crisis can be resolved with wisdom. Before the 1996 National Assembly election, the Liberal Democratic Union Party asked me if I would run in Gumi City, but I did not agree.Because at the time I didn't think it was necessary to jump into politics.However, this time is different. Seeing that the country's economy is on the verge of collapse, the sense of crisis has darkened my heart, and I have to stand up.Thinking of the impending collapse of the country that has been created through hard work, I feel extremely anxious, so I decided to come out to support the election of candidate Lee Hoi-chang.Yeongdong, Daegu, Pohang, I began to travel all over the country non-stop, busy with campaign activities all day long.

Although I have been away from the public eye for a long time, many people still recognized me and greeted me warmly when I was campaigning.Especially in the election campaign in Daegu, the reaction of the local people was beyond my imagination.Even though it was late at night, the streets were still crowded with people, so crowded that there was not even room for footsteps.I also had mixed feelings about the people's welcome. They kept shouting "Park Geun-hye", and some even cried when they saw me.They made me feel strongly that everyone is desperate for good government.So, my heart is even heavier.

Not long after, I gave a heartfelt call to the people in a televised speech supporting Candidate Lee Hoi-chang: "My father said that when he introduced the song 'Please Live Well' to the people for the first time, he felt very desolate and very sad. , It can be seen how hard our life was at that time, and it even reached the point of shouting "Please live well". But my father said, we must keep listening until the country achieves modernization and the economy is stable, and we must keep listening to "Please live well". "Live" is the song. How much suffering we have endured to build today's motherland on the ruins of the war..."

The next day, when I went to the Jukdo Market in Pohang to support the election, the merchants and passers-by in the market came to pull my clothes, and said with red eyes that they had seen my speech yesterday. Suddenly, the whole Many people in the market cried.This sudden situation even surprised the interviewed media, and they all took pictures.More and more people gathered around, people were crying everywhere, and all major media were filming, the scene in the market was like a sad documentary.

The crowd surrounded me, and I couldn't even move a step. "Come on!" "Please come out and save the country's economy!" The people shouted one after another. On the last day of the election campaign, when I arrived in Hanam City, Gyeonggi-do, although it was late at night, there were still a lot of people waiting. Many people wanted to shake my hand, so many people squeezed out my buttons. During this period of non-stop vote-seeking campaign, I also experienced dangerous moments.When I was going to Cheonan City to support the election by car, there was a car accident on the road. The moment I passed the toll booth and was about to turn right, the car coming from behind slammed into it from the side, and stopped right next to us after the collision.The car I was in was badly damaged and people were yelling "ambulance! ambulance!" in horror and told me to go to the hospital for a checkup, but I couldn't get to the hospital because of the people waiting for me, so I kept going. to campaign.

After deciding to step into the political arena, in the past eight days, I actually felt how powerful the people's hearts are.When I was asking for votes to support the election, I met some people who held my hand and said that they had seen me when I was the first lady, and shed tears of joy while talking. The young bus conductors, vocational school students with innocent smiles, and childish high school students I saw in those days are now married and have children, and they are parents, with wrinkles left by the years on their faces.Meeting them was like meeting friends from my youth, both happy and exciting.I secretly made up my mind not to live up to their expectations. At least, what I want to do is to never be an irresponsible politician.