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What is the real issue with the ki (energy) therapist for former president Park Geun-hye at the court in former presidential aide case?The Ki treatment evolves into a medical, political and legal issue at the court.
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One female ki (chi, energy) practitioner was called as a witness on Sept. 28 by Seoul Appellate Court, in order to review the conviction of Lee Young-seon, the former presidential aide who was previously sentenced to prison terms for practicing medicine illegally for disgraced former president Park Geun-hye.

Lee Young-seon (38), the former presidential aide in charge of presidential security was sentenced to one year in prison in June this year. This was after being convicted of helping President Park Geun-hye receive illegal medical treatment from unauthorized persons. It is also said that he helped uncertified medical practitioners enter the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae without leaving official records.

The judge Lee Young-mi said in a June statement that allowing Park's uncertified practitioners and doctors to enter Cheong Wa Dae to treat the former president posed a "serious threat to the health of the president.

“If a president is tired, the president should ask the presidential physician to prescribe medicine and to get it administered by a nurse officer,” added the judge.

The energy healer in her mid-70s was as one of the key persons on the witness list to practice habitually therapeutic massage for the ousted Park Geun-hye.

This is her second appearance as a witness on the former presidential aide Lee’s appeal case.

The appeal court determined to call her again to make the energy therapist testify how she treated Park through the therapeutic massages called ‘ki healing’ and also to decide whether the treatment should have been applied only by certified medical doctors.

For her testimony, the court prepared a temporary bed and one female court official, so that she can reenact her ki (energy healing) treatment applied to the former president.

“I was called out to Cheon Wa Dae (Korea’s presidential house) normally once a week, particularly whenever the former President Park returned from journeys to overseas countries,” said the therapist at the appeal court. She is known to have treated Park through ki therapy for more than 10 years even before Park became a president.

She added “what I did was to make ki energy healing treatment. The therapeutic ki massage on her hands and legs really helped her relieve muscle knots. This treatment is all about promoting the natural flow of human energy.”

Ki therapy is based on the concept of connection between the physical, emotional, mental and spiritual energy found in many holistic healing methods. This healing focus promotes personal empowerment, self-healing and spiritual growth.

The problem is that in the world of scientifically proven evidence-based medicine, there isn't much evidence that energy healing works.

In Korea and some other Asian countries, ki or chi treatment is an ancient art of healing. There are still many ki practitioners who claim that “I am not giving you medicine to cure disease. What I can do is make you strong enough to fight disease with your own energy by enhancing your ki.

Since ancient times, people have considered Ki, energy to be the most important factor in a human’s overall health. ki is what makes our hearts beat and our lungs breathe in and out, and what determines our vitality and lifespan.

A lack of vital ki energy is a main cause of today’s diseases, in oriental mindset. When someone is ill, we say “you lack ki.” Even a common cold or ‘Gamki’ in Korean means ‘reduced ki energy.’

But the problem is that in the world of scientifically proven evidence-based medicine, there isn't much evidence that energy healing works, even though, since ancient times, people have acknowledged the existence of an energy and its effects on improving holistic health.

And then the real issue with energy healers is not so much what they do, or how, but whether it has any effect. Because many certified doctors think the Ki treatment is unscientific and unapprovable, they take a dim view of it.

One of the most intriguing aspects of energy healing is that everyone can learn to do it. Some experts say it's like singing.

There are, of course, only a few ki healing masters who are really good at it. But should they be certified? Or should the practice be considered a medical treatment technically (legally)? Thus, whether to certify ki practitioners as a legal medical doctor has been a long time source of debate.

The former president Park Geun-hye and the ki energy practitioner must have thought that the conventional Korean ki treatment was giving her some benefit. However, they might not have known how this would evolve into a medical, political and legal issue at the court.

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