A sign installed above the entrance of Daeyeon Tunnel on Busan’s urban expressway on the 21st. Photo captured from an online community, ‘Controversy has arisen as an unidentified sign reading ‘꾀·끼·깡·꼴·끈’ was installed on a tunnel above an expressway in Busan.’,
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, ‘According to News1 on the 23rd, the Busan Facilities Corporation installed the planned sign ‘꾀·끼·깡·꼴·끈’ on top of Daeyeon Tunnel on the 21st as part of the Busan city public design improvement project.’,
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, ‘Citizens have reacted in disbelief, asking “What does it even mean?” One driver commented, “I was puzzled for a while trying to figure out what it means and might even cause an accident looking at it for too long. It’s hard to understand why they installed it on a busy expressway.”’,
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, ‘Another citizen described it as “really ominous” and questioned, “I don’t understand why they installed that with the city’s budget.”‘,
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, ‘The corporation stated that they approached it from a sentimental message for citizens.’,
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, ‘The sign ‘꾀끼깡꼴끈’ was mentioned by Mayor Park Hyung-jun during the New Year’s meeting on January 2 as the 5 virtues public officials should possess.’,
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, ‘At that time, Mayor Park emphasized, “To establish our identity as beings with public integrity, we need ‘꾀’ (wisdom), ‘끼’ (energy/talent), ‘깡’ (courage), ‘꼴’ (design), and ‘끈’ (networking).”’,
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, ‘An official from the Busan Facilities Corporation explained to the media, “The author Ju Cheol-hwan first mentioned the related content in his book, and later Mayor Park mentioned this phrase ‘꾀끼깡꼴끈’. It was internally planned and promoted as it contains meaningful content that people can empathize with.”‘,
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