Lee Jae-myeong, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, was transferred to St. Mary’s Hospital in Yeouido, Seoul in the early morning of the 18th, 19 days after starting his fast, received emergency treatment, and was then transferred back to Green Hospital. Green Hospital is a 400-bed occupational disease specialty hospital established in 1988 following the Wonjin Rayon incident and is located in Myeonmok-dong, Jungnang-gu, Seoul. This hospital, adjacent to Yongmasan Mountain, is a 30-minute drive from Yeouido.
The medical community’s analysis is that the reason CEO Lee was able to transfer to Green Hospital, 20km away after receiving treatment with intravenous fluids such as saline at St. Mary’s Hospital, was because his health condition was stable to some extent.
Kim Won-young, professor of emergency medicine at Asan Medical Center in Seoul, said, “When a patient with acute malnutrition comes to the emergency room, saline solution is first administered to treat dehydration. If blood sugar levels drop, nutrient solution such as glucose is administered and the body is examined to see if there are any other abnormalities. “He explained, “If this test determines that emergency surgery or procedures are not necessary, the patient will be transferred to the hospital.”
When you fast for an extremely long time, you may have a heart attack due to electrolyte imbalance, or you may experience neurological symptoms due to increased ketone levels in your body. Bone marrow cells are damaged and become vulnerable to infection. The fact that CEO Lee found stability through prescription of intravenous fluids means that such an extreme situation was avoided.
Professor Kim said, “It is impossible to recover a malnourished patient whose body has deteriorated due to fasting within 1 to 2 hours (in the emergency room),” and added, “If surgery is not necessary, (transfer to a secondary hospital) and gradually inject the patient while resting.” “It is correct to treat it by increasing the amount of food consumed,” he said.
The Democratic Party explained that the reason for the decision to transfer to Green Hospital was because this hospital has specialists with accumulated experience in fasting treatment. It is true that this hospital has a lot of experience with fasting patients. Roh Hoe-chan and Shim Sang-jeong, advisors of the New Progressive Party, who went on a hunger strike for 30 days in front of Daehanmun Gate in Seoul in 2011 over layoffs at Hanjin Heavy Industries, and the head of the Ssangyong Automobile branch of the Korea Metal Workers’ Union, who went on a 41-day hunger strike in front of Daehanmun Gate in 2013 over layoffs at Ssangyong Motors, closed this hospital after a hunger strike. found.
This is the hospital where Monk Seoljo, who went on a hunger strike at Jogyesa Woojung Park in 2018 to demand reform of the Jogye Order of Buddhism, was taken after fasting for 41 days, and where Yumin’s father, Kim Yeong-oh, who fasted for 46 days demanding an investigation into the truth about the Sewol Ferry, received treatment. It is also a green hospital.
Bora Lee, a pulmonologist at the National Medical Center, who is considered the doctor who treated the most fasting patients in Korea, served as the director of the Human Rights Healing Center at Green Hospital. However, due to the issue of proportional representation rigging in the 2012 primary, Kang Ki-gap, leader of the Unified Progressive Party, was taken to Yeouido St. Mary’s Hospital for treatment.
It is rare for ruling party figures to visit Green Hospital. In 2019, Hwang Kyo-ahn, then leader of the Liberty Korea Party, who went on a so-called homeless hunger strike in front of the Blue House Sarangchae, was transported to the emergency room of Severance Hospital in Sinchon, and Rep. Hak-jae Lee, who fasted demanding the resignation of then-Minister of Justice Cho Kuk, was also transported to Severance Hospital in Sinchon and received treatment.
Green Hospital has deep ties to opposition figures. The first director of Green Hospital is Yang Gil-seung, chairman of the Wonjin Foundation and the first citizen chairman온라인바카라 of the People’s Solidarity for Participatory Democracy. Director Im Sang-hyeok of Green Hospital visited and treated Democratic Party lawmaker Woo Won-sik and Justice Party leader Lee Jeong-mi, who went on a hunger strike last July due to contaminated water from the Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan.
The Green Hospital Development Committee was named as co-chairs by Anglican priest Song Gyeong-yong, representative of ‘People who remember Park Won-soon’, and Yang Kyung-soo, chairman of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions. Green Hospital also has a business agreement with the ‘Poverty Children Policy Advisory Committee’, an advisory body to the Vice-Chairman of the National Assembly. The Children in Poverty Policy Advisory Committee is an organization formed by Vice Chairman Kim Young-joo, a three-term member of the Democratic Party.
The Wonjin Rayon incident occurred in the 1970s and 1980s when hundreds of employees of Wonjin Rayon, a textile company, died from exposure to and poisoning with carbon disulfide, a nerve poisoning gas. Due to this incident, Wonjin Rayon went out of business in 1993, and the Wonjin Occupational Disease Management Foundation, a foundation established by contributing victims’ compensation and consolation money, established Green Hospital in 2003.
At the 2003 opening ceremony, singers Jang Sa-ik and Lee Eun-mi were invited to perform, along with a ‘Salim gut’ to appease the victims’ vengeful spirits. The Salimgut was for the 50 people who died at Wonjin Rayon and Kim Kyung-hwa, who died during the YH incident.
This hospital started out as a hospital specializing in occupational diseases, but has now established itself as a regional hospital. As a safety net hospital in Seoul, this hospital treats specially employed workers and foreign workers who do not have industrial accident insurance benefits, and has a human rights healing center within the hospital, which also provides medical expenses support to refugees, sexual minorities, and victims of state violence.