South Korean developers launch games mocking Choi Soon Sil, woman at centre of president Park's political scandal

Protesters wearing masks of South Korean President Park Geun Hye (front) and her confidante Choi Soon Sil (back) in Seoul on Oct 29, 2016. PHOTO: AFP
Screenshots of “Hurry up Soon-sil”, a game involving Choi Soon Sil that has appeared on the Google Play mobile app store. PHOTO: THE KOREA HERALD

SEOUL (THE KOREA HERALD/ASIA NEWS NETWORK) - South Korean game developers have launched new mobile games mocking the woman at the center of the country's roiling political scandal.

The flurry of new games comes even as public anger continues to mount against Choi Soon Sil, a confidante of South Korean President Park Geun Hye who allegedly meddled in key government affairs as a civilian,

Choi Soon Sil, 60, is a longtime friend of President Park who allegedly acted as the president's secret adviser without holding a government title. She is accused of using her personal ties to the president to wield undue influence over state affairs and presidential matters.

Numerous games involving Choi have recently appeared on the Google Play mobile app store, such as "Hurry up Soon Sil," in which a horse-riding character named "Soon Siri," a nickname that compares Choi to Apple's artificial intelligence assistant Siri, attempts to race forward in front of the Blue House while avoiding obstacles in the shape of giant handcuffs.

The horse alludes to Choi's daughter Chung Yoo Ra, a professional dressage rider who allegedly abused her mother's power to gain acceptance into Ewha Woman's University as well as advance her professional horse-riding career.

Another game called "Choi's Gate" lets users gain points by clicking the right words that match peculiar remarks formerly made by Park Geun Hye, presumably while reading from scripts written by Choi.

Some of them include infamous phrases such as "If you really want something, the universe will step up to help you and you will achieve your dreams."

Other phrases featured in the game include "Forgo learning your country's history, and you will become soulless; learn the wrong history, and your soul will become abnormal. It's a truly frightening thought."

These selection of phrases aims to mock the president's "shamanistic" relationship with Choi, the daughter of Park's late mentor and religious cult leader Choi Tae Min.

The late Choi had reportedly acted as a close adviser to Park since her mother Yook Young Soo was assassinated by a North Korean sympathiser in 1974. Upon Choi's death, his daughter Soon Sil is said to have taken over her father's role.

Other games mocking the controversial figure include "Soon Sil Raises Chicken," which parodies President Park as a chicken being raised by "Soon Siri."

The chicken performs multiple missions, such as using her opposition against North Korea to win the election, editing speech texts and saving the country. In passing each mission, its "Yushin" ability rises.

The term refers to the Yushin Constitution, which laid the foundation for President Park Chung Hee, the current president's father, to extend his authoritarian rule.

User reactions to the new games have been highly positive, with all three of the mentioned games scoring 4.9 out of 5 stars on Google Play.

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