South Korean lawmaker Park Jie-won said Saturday he watched the film “The Intern” with 15 fellow Democratic Party members at a theater in his home constituency, describing the outing in an emotional Facebook post that recalled his late wife.
Park, a member of the National Assembly representing Haenam, Wando and Jindo counties in South Jeolla Province, wrote that he watched the movie at the “Bingrae Cinema” in Wando on a rainy day.
He said he had recently expressed a wish to watch a “human, love story” film rather than an intense action movie, and that “The Intern” was exactly what he had been hoping to see.
Park said he found himself wiping away tears throughout the film, explaining that the ninth anniversary of his wife’s death falls next month and that thoughts of her kept surfacing as he watched.
“The Intern” follows a retired man in his 70s, played by Choi Min-sik, who takes a three-month internship at a fashion company run by a young female entrepreneur, played by Han So-hee, in a story that mixes comedy with sentiment.
Park wrote that he saw parallels between his own life and that of the young CEO character played by Han. He said he had been so absorbed in his work and political career that he never managed to take a trip to Southeast Asia — or even to Jeju Island — with his wife and two daughters.
He also referenced a subplot in which the CEO’s husband, unable to cope with his wife’s success, has an affair with a graduate student and the couple eventually divorces. Park said the film left him wondering whether his own wife might have been happier had she chosen divorce rather than enduring hardship.
Addressing his late wife directly, Park wrote: “I love you, I’m sorry, and thank you. I’m looking after our two daughters, my son-in-law and three grandchildren on your behalf as well.”
