President Park arbitrarily used human placenta?

President Park Geun-hye arbitrarily hired a personal doctor to enter the presidential palace to inject placenta extract into her body for health and beauty care.

Since President Park Geun-hye began her term, Dr. Kim Sang-man has become a frequent visitor to the presidential palace. Mr. Kim freely enters the presidential palace without going through security checks, with the task of injecting human placenta extract into President Park, according to Reuters news agency.

This was not reported to the official doctors who cared for her at the presidential palace, and was revealed during the investigation into the scandal of her close friend Choi Soon-sil interfering in government affairs and taking advantage of her position for personal gain.

Placenta extract contains proteins, amino acids, vitamins, and other ingredients that help reduce fatigue and fight inflammation. According to Dr. Kim, Ms. Park, who is 64 and unmarried, suffers from insomnia and is often tired. He said he visited Ms. Park several times at the presidential palace and became a “consulting physician at the presidential palace” in August 2013.

In a parliamentary hearing this week, Dr. Kim said he went to the presidential palace to see Ms. Park after his shift at the clinic ended, which was also when the team of doctors officially caring for her health finished working.

President Park at an emergency cabinet meeting on December 9, after the National Assembly unanimously proposed impeachment. Photo: REUTERS

Dr. Kim worked at the Chaum Clinic, known for its detoxification and beauty services. Ms. Park had been treated there under an assumed name before she was elected president in December 2012, the clinic’s president said.

Last year, South Korea's presidential office purchased 200 units of placenta extract and other products for cosmetic purposes, according to government data obtained by a South Korean opposition lawmaker.

President Park's regular health and beauty treatments, including injections of human placenta extract, have raised questions about their safety and effectiveness. Placenta injections are well known in East Asia and have recently become popular in South Korea, but many doctors are skeptical about their health benefits. Scientific evidence that placenta extract is effective is scant, according to Professor Shin Hyun-young of Myongji Hospital and former spokesperson for the Korean Medical Association.

In addition, many people also criticized the team of doctors responsible for taking care of Ms. Park at the presidential palace for taking this matter too lightly, because even though they knew about it, they turned a blind eye.

“We are talking about the president, not just any person. The official doctor has to consult and make a decision. The official doctor needs to know every pill the president takes, even if it is a digestive medicine,” said Dr. Shin Hyun-dai, who took care of President Roh Moo-hyun from 2003 to 2008.

Endocrinologist Huh Kap-bum, who cared for President Kim Dae-jung from 1998 to 2002, said that if he had been consulted, he would have advised President Park not to use this method, because it had not been proven safe. According to him, President Park would have faced less criticism if she had consulted with official doctors about this treatment, rather than arbitrarily finding another private doctor.

Obstetrician and gynecologist Lee Byung-seok is one of the official doctors at the presidential palace looking after President Park's health. Testifying before the National Assembly, he admitted that if he had been consulted, he would have advised against the treatment.

According to PLO