[Editorial] Hollow apology

Gyeonggi Province Gov. Choo Mi-ae apologized four days after making a controversial remark that appeared to portray firefighters as a drain on public finances. Her belated apology, however, has only deepened doubts about her sincerity.

Choo apologized on Saturday after paying her respects to Kim Jin-seok, a fire lieutenant who died from injuries sustained in a factory fire in Bucheon, Gyeonggi Province. “Since you want an apology, I sincerely apologize from the bottom of my heart,” she said.

No one offering a heartfelt apology would begin with “Since you want an apology.” The phrase suggests she sees no reason to apologize, but is doing so merely to satisfy others. One cannot help wondering whether she would have let the matter pass had public outrage and firefighters’ demands for an apology not mounted. An apology made only under pressure can hardly be considered genuine.

Choo made the original remark on Oct. 13 during a parliamentary audit of the Gyeonggi provincial government. When a lawmaker from the main opposition People Power Party called for the central government to shoulder a larger share of fire service funding, Choo said the fire service seemed to be “the biggest and most troublesome drain on public finances.”

In context, she may not have intended to disparage firefighters personally. Nevertheless, comparing people who risk their lives battling fires to a financial drain was indefensible and disgraceful.

Had Choo promptly acknowledged her mistake and apologized, the controversy might not have escalated. A firefighters’ union demanded an apology the following day, but she remained silent. That silence made her eventual apology seem all the more reluctant.

The backlash intensified on Friday, when a factory fire in Bucheon injured five firefighters who had rushed in to rescue civilians. One of them, Lt. Kim, was taken to the hospital in cardiac arrest. Yet Choo showed no willingness to apologize when reporters asked at the scene whether she would retract her remark. “Let’s not talk about that,” she replied. The ruling Democratic Party of Korea, sensing mounting public anger, instead rushed to apologize on her behalf.

In the early hours of Saturday, news broke that Kim had died from his injuries. As governor, Choo could hardly ignore the funeral of a firefighter who had died fighting a fire in her own province. Only when she visited the funeral did she offer her grudging apology: “Since you want an apology, I’ll apologize.”

The delay was troubling enough, but the wording was even more disgraceful.

Choo's original remark and subsequent apology raise serious questions about whether she possesses the qualities expected of a provincial governor. Given her distinguished career as a judge, six-term lawmaker, Cabinet minister and governor, one wonders whether years of success have made her so accustomed to authority that she no longer knows how to bow her head when she is wrong.

If Choo wanted to correct the imbalance in fire service funding, she should have urged the central government to assume a greater share of the costs rather than denigrating firefighters. Although firefighters came under central government jurisdiction in 2020, central funding accounted for just 10.7 percent of the fire service budget last year.

The fire service operates under a dysfunctional system in which local governments bear most of the funding burden despite having no authority over budget formulation or personnel management. Along with institutional reforms, the central government should assume a substantial share of the financial burden.

Choo should be at the forefront of efforts to ensure that firefighters receive the support they need to perform their duties safely. Whenever a firefighter is killed or seriously injured in the line of duty, her description of the fire service as a “drain on public finances” will inevitably resurface. The backlash over an apology that rang hollow is also a consequence of her own words and conduct.