Recent History and Social Stigma
From the Park Chung-hee to the Kim Young-sam governments (1961–1997), the Gyeongsang dialect had greater prominence in the Korean media than other dialects as all of the presidents (except Choi Kyu-hah) were natives of Gyeongsang province. That is why some South Korean politicians or high-rank officials have not tried to convert to the Seoul accent, which is considered standard in South Korea. Also, South Korea's lingual policies have not been so rigid to enforce the standard accent as in the UK in the past.
However, former president Kim Young-sam was criticised (when he was in office) for failing to pronounce precisely when giving a public speech. He once mistakenly pronounced '경제 (Gyeongje: meaning 'economy')' as '갱제 (Gaengje: a Gyeongsang pronunciation for '경제')' and '외무부 장관 (oemubu-janggwan: meaning 'foreign minister')' as '애무부 장관 (aemubu-janggwan: meaning 'love affairs minister')'. In addition, there was a rumour concerning one of his public speeches that audiences were surprised to hear that he would make Jeju a world-class 'rapist (관광 tourism -> 강간 rape)' city by building up an 'adultery (관통하는 passing by -> 간통하는 committing adultery)' motorway.
Read more about this topic: Gyeongsang Dialect
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