[Park Jae-hong's social media]
[Park Jae-hong's social media]

Park Jae-hong, 50, anchor of CBS Radio's "Park Jae-hong's Hanpan Seungbu," a daily current-affairs program, said he collapsed from a cerebral infarction and is receiving treatment.

Park wrote on Facebook that he collapsed while exercising alone on a track at Gyodae sports field at around 10 p.m. on Aug. 22. "My family called 119, and I was taken to the emergency room an hour later," he said. "After an MRI scan, I was immediately diagnosed with a cerebral infarction. The medical team's assessment that night was more serious than I had expected."

He said medical staff checked his blood pressure, electrocardiogram and body temperature every three to four hours and asked him to confirm his name, the date and his location. "I watched with a heavy heart as most of the other patients in my ward could not remember their own names or occupations, and I wept inside and prayed for their recovery," he wrote.

Park said his language ability, memory and left-right sensation have all fully recovered, thanks to the dedicated care of the medical team at Samsung Medical Center, and that he is now in the rehabilitation phase to restore his motor functions. He added that he was sharing the details to prevent unnecessary speculation about his more than 20-day absence — his longest since he began hosting the program five years ago, during which he had never been away for more than a week at a time.

Former lawmakers Park Won-seok and Geum Tae-seop have been filling in as hosts of the program in his absence.

Park said he is aiming to return around the Chuseok holiday, though the timing may be adjusted based on his doctors' recommendations and the judgment of the CBS production team. "I felt acutely this time just how helpless life can become when even a single tiny blood vessel becomes blocked," he wrote. "I think I can come back stronger with your support." He added that, lying in his hospital bed, he resolved to live the second half of his life with a little more humility.

Park joined CBS in 2003 as part of its 24th announcer intake and has hosted numerous programs since.


paq@heraldcorp.com