No Lamborghinis here, please!

By Kim Tae-gyu

When Korea was poor, driving foreign cars was looked at with mixed feelings.

On one hand, people felt envious of those at the wheel of fancy, expensive imported cars. On the other, they became the target of criticism for excessive consumerism that was on the borderline of being “unpatriotic” for a failure to buy Korean brands.

Now, Korea is a lot wealthier and foreign cars are growing fast but the old sense of ambivalence remains.

That flared up during the Lunar New Year holiday, involving one of the country’s top actresses Han Chae-young.

Han, dubbed the Barbie Doll of Korea, posted Lunar New-Year messages with a picture through Twitter on Sunday.

``Happy New Year! It has been a long time since I have driven. I wish everyone of you all the best this year. I hope (you) will be happy and healthy.’’ Her remarks sounded good as textbook remarks of an entertainer at the dawn of the New Year.

What generated a stir was the photograph in which the 32-year-old was captured behind the wheels of a luxury sports car.

Omniscient and omnipotent Korean Internet users wasted no time in delving into the sports car at issue to come up with the conclusion that she was driving a Lamborghini Gallardo which sells for around 350 million won.

Then complaints started sprouting up such as “She is doing something improper,’’ ``Han is riding a car that is more expensive than an apartment,’’ and ``What is she doing at a time when the economy is this bad?’’

Han scrapped the messages and photo the next day without disclosing details of the car she was driving.

After learning about this amusing story, a question hit this reporter. Had Han taken a picture in a Korean vehicle with the similar price tag, would she have received the same criticism?

The answer might be affirmative or negative.

If the answer is yes, top entertainers should not be riding around in any super luxury vehicles even though they can afford to do so. Alternatively, they should not officially show their pictures or videos showing their indulgence.

But such logic does not make sense because it is against the constitutional rights of entertainers.

If the answer is no, that means that Koreans still have some hostility toward overseas brands, especially very expensive ones. What if Han took picture at the 2012 Equus Limousine of Hyundai Motor?

The right answer should be somewhere between a definite yes and no and once again, it demonstrates some resentment of imported vehicles.

There is an easier solution regarding Han’s case whether or not we have some bad feelings about offshore brands ― just let Han drive no matter what car she likes if she did not steal the car or money to buy it. It’s none of our business.