Search Results for: blue house corruption

Since the Korean left controls the National Assembly the failure of this impeachment is no surprise, but the Korean right did have an opportunity to describe how Choo Mi-ae is has stopped probes into Blue House corruption:

On Monday, the UFP submitted a motion to impeach Choo to the National Assembly. It was signed by 110 lawmakers. All 103 lawmakers from the UFP, all three lawmakers from the People’s Party and four independent lawmakers who were formally members of the UFP co-sponsored the motion.    
   
Although the motion was struck down, it appeared that at least two members of the ruling Democratic Party (DP) or its allies had voted to support it.    
   
According to Rep. Joo Ho-young, floor leader of the UFP, not all 110 lawmakers who sponsored the motion participated in the voting. Two UFP lawmakers and one independent lawmaker were absent. (……)

“A justice minister is a servant of the people, not a specific political faction. As a servant to the people, the minister must maintain political neutrality, not abuse power of office, never submit to outside pressures and faithfully respect laws,” Rep. Bae Hyun-jin, spokeswoman of the UFP, said before the voting started. “But Choo’s actions clearly violated her duty to serve the people.”  
   
“Shortly after she took office, she reassigned the prosecutors who were investigating corruption and abuse of power allegations against key members of the Moon Jae-in administration, without consulting the prosecutor general,” Bae said, pointing to the move as retaliation.   
   
Bae also said Choo had illegally intervened in the prosecution probes, and such actions are in violation of the law governing the prosecution. Choo also disgraced the Ministry of Justice and the prosecution by publicly criticizing the prosecutor general, Bae said.   

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link, but I have long chronicled how Choo was specifically chosen to stop all prosecution attempts to investigate the Blue House. Choo has even promised to investigate the prosecutors who were leading the Blue House corruption probes as payback.

Just think that prior ROK President Park Geun-hye was impeached for far less than this.

This is just another example of how South Korea is a rule by law country instead of a rule of law country:

Justice Minister Choo Mi-ae expressed intent on Thursday to order an internal probe into prosecutors that brought charges against a presidential secretary for suspected misconduct, calling it a rash move that did not follow due process.

Choo delivered her message to the press after an anti-corruption team at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors Office earlier in the day indicted Choi Kang-wook, a presidential secretary for public office discipline, for fabricating an internship certificate for former Justice Minister Cho Kuk’s son. 

The prosecution team reportedly bypassed its boss, Lee Seong-yun, head of the Seoul prosecution office, as he refused to sign off on the indictment, and went ahead with filing the charges with the approval of Prosecutor-General Yoon Seok-youl.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

There is yet another corruption probe into the Blue House where a key witness was found dead:

An investigator at the Seoul Eastern District Prosecutors’ Office who was previously dispatched to work for the Blue House was found dead on Sunday afternoon in an apparent suicide, just hours before he was scheduled to appear for questioning in a widening election-meddling probe.

The investigator, who was only identified as a 48-year-old man, was found dead on Sunday at around 3 p.m. in an office owned by his acquaintance in Seocho District, southern Seoul, according to police.  

Police found in the office what appeared to be a handwritten note, in which the investigator apologized to his family. Police said the memo did not contain anything about the probe he was involved in.  

Just three hours later, he was supposed to appear at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office as a witness to offer his testimony about his time in the Blue House senior secretary for civil affairs office. 

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link, but this investigator was going to testify about Blue House officials that had improperly tampered with the election of the city of Ulsan’s mayor. This alleged tampering allowed a left-wing candidate with close ties to President Moon win the election.

Considering the Blue House’s very strong response to Yoon’s comments I think it is an indication they are worried about being investigated if he does win the Presidency:

President Moon Jae-in on Thursday demanded an apology from main opposition presidential candidate Yoon Suk-yeol for remarks that he will launch a probe into alleged corruption of the current administration if he is elected. 

Moon expressed “strong resentment” over Yoon’s remarks and criticized the candidate for attacking the current administration with “groundless” allegations, according to Park Soo-hyun, senior secretary for public communication.

It was rare for Moon to directly respond to remarks by Yoon. To maintain political neutrality ahead of the March vote, the presidential office has kept a low profile over allegations raised by Yoon or other presidential candidates. 

Yoon made the remark in an interview with the JoongAng Ilbo daily published Wednesday, saying he will launch an investigation into “deep-rooted evils” of the Moon Jae-in administration if he wins the March 9 presidential election.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but Yoon is clearly trying to rally the conservative base before the election that is upset that the Moon administration jailed the two former conservative Presidents. For the good of the country though Yoon if elected needs to stop the political prosecution of former Presidents.

It figures this guy would get no jail time after being convicted of corruption:

Busan’s former vice mayor for economic affairs Yoo Jae-soo was convicted of taking bribes but will avoid jail time.  
   
The Seoul Eastern District Court convicted Yoo of taking bribes from four executives of financial companies when he worked at the Financial Services Commission (FSC) from 2010 to 2018.   
   
The court handed down an 18-month suspended jail sentence and a 90 million won fine ($73,000). The court also ordered Yoo to pay the 42.21 million won he took in bribes. 

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link, but what is significant about this case is not so much the corruption, but that the former Moon administration Justice Minister Cho Kuk is being tried for abuse of power in 2017 when as then Blue House Senior Civil Affairs Secretary tried to shut down an investigation into Yoo’s suspected corruption.

It appears the prosecutors office is trying to quickly seize what evidence they can to support their corruption investigations before the new ROK Justice Minister completely gets it shut down:

Cheong Wa Dae expressed strong regret Friday over state prosecutors’ attempt at what it called a reckless search of the presidential office.

Seoul Central District Prosecutors Office in the morning sent a team of investigators to Cheong Wa Dae with a search warrant for the office of a unit that handles policies related to support for provincial governments.

It was part of an intensive probe into allegations that President Moon’s aides had meddled in the 2018 Ulsan mayor election in which Song Cheol-ho, Moon’s longtime friend, won.

Prosecutors failed to enforce the warrant due to Cheong Wa Dae’s refusal to cooperate.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

There is yet another corruption scandal involving the Blue House:

Prosecutors raided the Blue House Wednesday for documents related to allegations that the presidential office covered up a probe into the former Busan vice mayor and accusations that he took bribes. 

The Seoul Eastern District Prosecutors’ Office announced that it dispatched its prosecutors and investigators to the Blue House at 11:30 a.m. to accept related documents from Blue House officials without physically entering the main Blue House premises. 

It was the third time that prosecutors carried out a raid of the Moon Jae-in Blue House, all conducted in a manner that respected the security sensitivity of the area.

Yoo Jae-soo, Busan’s former vice mayor for economic affairs, is under investigation for allegedly taking nearly 50 million won ($42,400) in bribes. On Nov. 27, a court in Seoul issued a pretrial detention warrant for Yoo, and he’s now detained at the Seoul Eastern Detention Center in Songpa District, southern Seoul.

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link, but the corruption at the Blue House links backed to ousted Justice Minister Cho Kuk and claims the government was spying on private citizens.

As we have seen repeatedly the Moon administration is willing to go great lengths to protect their friends and punish their enemies.  Now they are targeting a corruption whistleblower and letting the media know they will go after them as well if they continue to report his claims:

A former investigator with the Blue House special inspection bureau accused President Moon Jae-in’s top aides of covering up bribery allegations against Korean Ambassador to Russia Woo Yoon-keun and said he was kicked out of the prestigious Blue House team for looking into the case.

Kim Tae-wu, an investigator with the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office who was temporarily dispatched to the Blue House last year to work for the special inspection bureau, told local media on Saturday that he was victimized for targeting Woo, a high-profile figure in Korean liberal politics who formerly served as a lawmaker in the ruling Democratic Party (DP) and has close ties with Moon. In an email to several media outlets, Kim said he wanted to shed light on the truth and recover his tarnished reputation.

Both the Blue House and Woo adamantly denied Kim’s claims that the envoy was bribed. In scathing remarks, Yoon Young-chan, Moon’s senior secretary for public affairs, referred to Kim as a “loach” in a written statement issued to Blue House correspondents on Saturday, saying the investigator was “completely muddying stream water” now that he’s been cornered.

Yoon added that the truth will soon be revealed and the Blue House will “certainly” press legal charges against Kim for the spread of false information and defamation. Yoon went on to express “deep regret” for the local media outlets who were writing stories based on “unilateral claims” from Kim. Kim was one of 20 to 30 members of the so-called special inspection bureau under the office of Cho Kuk, presidential senior secretary for civil affairs.

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link, but the last paragraph is another example of how the Moon administration uses the nation’s libel laws to silence and imprison critics.  

This is pretty funny that someone filed a complaint against President Moon for violating his own coronavirus prevention measures:

President Moon Jae-in has come under fire for having a dinner with four of his former aides at Cheong Wa Dae, which critics claim was in violation of the nationwide ban on gatherings of five or more people as a measure to contain the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Two days after the Moon administration’s latest Cabinet reshuffle, announced April 17, Moon had drinks and dinner with the four former aides to show his appreciation for their work, at his residence within the presidential office compound. The aides were former senior secretary for social policy Yoon Chang-yul, former senior secretary for political affairs Choi Jae-sung, former spokesman Kang Min-seok and former secretary for legal affairs Kim Young-sik. 

However, a person later filed a civil complaint on the website run by the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission, saying Moon’s gathering with the former aides was against the ban on gatherings of five or more people. 

Korea Times

You can read more at the link, but the Blue House is saying that the gathering ban only applies to private gatherings and not official gatherings like what are held at the Blue House. Just like in the US, what is with these politicians that can follow the rules they push down on everyone else.