“I went to a shrine visit in Japan”, POSCO Choi Jeong-woo “It’s a temple…”

At the Industrial Accident Hearing of the Environmental Labor Commission held at the National Assembly on the 22nd, opposition lawmakers were inundated with criticism toward corporate representatives present as witnesses. In this process, even a query asking whether to visit the shrine was unrelated to the agenda.

In addition, Democratic Party Rep. Roh Woong-rae exclaimed a picture of POSCO Chairman Choi Jeong-woo’s visit to Japan at a hearing on the day and exclaimed, “I went to a shrine in Tokyo, is it okay to do this?

The photo shows the back of Chairman Choi standing together in a religious facility in Japan.

Chairman Choi denied that he was not a gentleman. Rep. Roh stopped talking to Chairman Choi, who was trying to further explain, and asked again, “Do you admit to having gone?” In response, Chairman Choi replied, “I visited a temple where many Korean tourists visit during the break during the General Assembly of the World Steel Association in October 2018.” He continued, “If you look at the top of (photo), there is a temple,” he emphasized, saying, “It is not a shrine, it is a temple.”

As Chairman Choi said, the Chinese character’Sa (寺)’ can be seen in the upper right of the photo released by Rep. Roh. In addition, in the original photo released by POSCO after the hearing, it is also clearly seen that a piece of paper with the word’Namu Amitabha (南無阿弥陀仏)’ is attached to the altar in front of Chairman Choi.

The temple that Chairman Choi visited at that time was Jojo-ji, near Tokyo Tower, and is an old temple built in 1393.

Reporter Juhee Hong [email protected]