It has been belatedly revealed that singer Na Hoon-a directly expressed his discomfort about the ‘12·3 martial law’ situation.

Na Hoon-a revealed his feelings about President Yoon Seok-yeol‘s declaration of martial law during the ‘2024 Thank You - Last Concert’ held at the East Wing of Daegu EXCO on the 7th. While singing his representative song ‘Empty’, he said to the accompaniment, “I stayed up all night a few days ago. I was worried about whether I should perform or not”, and he said, “They say gatherings are banned. I thought, ‘That would be nice.” I saw martial law being lifted in the morning, so I had a drink and went to sleep”.

He then asked in his signature Gyeongsang dialect, “Where is the National Assembly building? Which way is Yongsan? Where are the houses of the ruling and opposition party leaders? He then raised his fan towards the sky and said, “I’m gathering (energy) at the tip of this fan and singing,” and sang the chorus of the song, “Tiree tiri tiri tiri,” along with the audience.

Even right after the song, he said, “What is the foundation of politics? The principle is to protect the lives of the people and prevent them from starving,” and added, “The problems in the Republic of Korea are something we have to stay up all night in the National Assembly and worry about.”

Na Hoon-a’s self-composed song, “Gong,” is a song famous for his ability to pour out his heart like a comedic comedy by utilizing the chorus that begins with “Tiree~” at every performance. It contains philosophical lyrics such as “As we live, we realize that you and I are both foolish,” and “A hundred years is difficult. As if we’re going to live a thousand years” in a traditional Korean music style melody.

Na Hoon-a debuted in 1966 with Cheonri-gil and enjoyed great popularity with many hit songs such as ‘Mushiro’, ‘Weeds’, ‘Hongsi’. He received many love calls from the political world, and it is known that he declined the ruling party’s (Democratic Liberal Party) offer to run in the 1992 general election, saying, “‘Why Are You Crying?’, who sings it the best in the world? Is Michael Jackson better?”.

Na Hoon-a is meeting fans on a nationwide tour before retirement, and will end with a retirement concert at the Case Po Dome in Seoul for three days from January 10 to 12 next year.

Reporter Yang Hyeong-mo hmyang0307@donga.com



Reporter Yeon Je-ho sol@donga.com