Lee got caught up in a political prosecution of former President Park Geun-hye, so everyone kind of knew he would eventually get released early and now it has happened:
This file photo shows Samsung Electronics Co. Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong (C) leaving the Seoul High Court on Nov. 9, 2020, after attending a hearing on his bribery scandal. (Yonhap)
The justice ministry said Monday it will release jailed Samsung heir Lee Jae-yong on parole later this week, a decision fiercely protested by civic groups and welcomed by Samsung Group and other business leaders.
The vice chairman of Samsung Electronics Co. has been serving time since he was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison by the Seoul High Court on Jan. 18 in a retrial of a bribery case involving former President Park Geun-hye. (……)
The ministry considered “the country’s economic situation and the conditions of the global economy amid the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic” as factors behind the decision, Park said in a briefing.
Just another example of the breakdown of civil society in major U.S. cities:
Park, 27, recalled the incident in a new interview with podcaster Joe Rogan, which tackled her experiences as a child in North Korea and as a defector in the U.S. She said it occurred during lootings across the city last summer. Park was out with her baby and a nanny when three Black women allegedly robbed her near Saks Fifth Avenue on Michigan Avenue.
The suspects tried to flee but she managed to grab the woman who took her wallet. Park held onto the woman and attempted to call the police. At this point, the woman allegedly started accusing her of racism and punching her in the chest. “You’re a racist! The color of my skin doesn’t make me a thief,” she recalled the woman as saying. The situation became more difficult for Park as bystanders — whom she identified as white people — gathered around the scene and allegedly prevented her from phoning law enforcement. She said they also let the suspects go.
I wonder if this day care center had the calmest kids in Korea?:
Harvested marijuana and materials used by a group of five people to grow cannabis plants are exhibited at the Korea Coast Guard headquarters in Incheon, Monday. Courtesy of Korea Coast Guard
Five people have been detained on suspicions of violating the law on narcotics for allegedly growing cannabis at a daycare center and several wetland sites along the west coast, the Korea Coast Guard said Monday.
Fourteen others were booked without physical detention for purchasing marijuana from them and using it.
The five people allegedly grew 13 cannabis plants in the hallway, back yard and on the rooftop of a daycare center run by the mother of one of them from March to July last year. The Coast Guard did not specify the location of the center.
It is probably good for Yoon that this trial is done and out of the way before the campaign season really heats up. However, I expect the Korean left will try and link him to this case even if it is not true:
The mother-in-law of former Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-youl arrives for her sentencing hearing at the Uijeongbu District Court in the city 23 kilometers north of Seoul on July 2, 2021. (Yonhap)
The mother-in-law of former Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-youl, a leading presidential hopeful, was sentenced to three years in prison Friday, kicking off a political firestorm ahead of the 2022 election.
The local district court in Uijeongbu, 23 kilometers north of Seoul, convicted the 74-year-old, surnamed Choi, of collaborating with three business partners to establish a medical foundation and open a long-term care hospital for senior citizens in February 2013, despite having no medical qualifications.
Choi was also convicted of fraud for accepting 2.29 billion won (US$2.02 million) in state benefits from the National Health Insurance Service until 2015 to run the hospital.
If you are a male soldier stationed in Daegu here is something to be aware of:
The Wetzel military housing community in Baumholder, Germany. A new Rand Corp. report found that male soldiers based at Baumholder were more at risk of being sexually assaulted than any at other Army post, citing 2018 data.
Male soldiers based at Baumholder in Germany were more at risk of being sexually assaulted than at any other Army post, according to a service-commissioned study that found two other posts in Germany with similar risks.
A Rand Corp. report released Friday examined sexual assault data at U.S. Army bases worldwide and found elevated risks of male sexual assault at Vilseck and Landstuhl in Germany. (……..)
When adjusting for key factors such as age, marital status and education, LRMC rated as the riskiest, followed by Baumholder and Daegu, South Korea, the report said.
You can read more at the link, but for sexual assaults on women Camp Humphreys and bases in Daegu ranked 7th and 8th across the Army which is really high as well.
I like how the parking attendant is supposedly hospitalized after being pushed to the ground. I an sure some settlement money will help him quickly heal which is what this USFK employee should be quickly putting together to resolve this incident:
This screenshot from blurred footage obtained by South Korea’s MBC News shows an altercation between a man thought to be a U.S. Forces Korea civilian employee and a parking attendant in Seoul, South Korea, June 12, 2021. (MBC News)
South Korean authorities are investigating a U.S. Forces Korea civilian employee accused of assaulting a Seoul parking lot attendant over the weekend.
Police were called out to a disturbance at the Hongdae Street lot on Saturday evening and witnessed the altercation, a Mapo District Police Station official told Stars and Stripes by phone on Thursday. He spoke on condition of anonymity due to the ongoing investigation.
Video footage obtained by South Korea’s MBC News shows a man pushing the uniformed parking attendant while tripping his leg. The attendant was injured and hospitalized, according to police.
The USFK employee, whom South Korean police are not identifying due to privacy laws, was not intoxicated when officers arrived, the police official said.
You can read more at the link, but I also found it interesting that an activist group was protesting at the U.S. embassy over this. Talk about not having a life.
Here is the latest on the sex doll controversy in South Korea:
Police began to crack down on any illegal acts committed by owners of sex doll experience shops or cafes, Monday, amid growing concerns from many parents that such facilities near schools will have a bad influence on their children.
The National Police Agency said that police officers in Seoul and Gyeonggi Province will carry out the crackdown jointly with the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, as well as local governments, until the end of next month.
Their crackdown will focus on any illegalities involving those shops’ online and offline ads.
I have no idea if Yoon’s mother-in-law is guilty of these accusations, but why did it take six years and when Yoon’s may be seeking the presidency for these charges to happen? I think this is arguably payback on Yoon for going after the corruption surrounding the former Justice Minister Cho Kuk and his family:
A file photo of former Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-youl’s mother-in-law (Yonhap)
A team of state prosecutors requested Monday that a local court sentence the mother-in-law of Yoon Seok-youl, a former top prosecutor, to three years in jail.
The 74-year-old, identified only by her surname Choi, is accused of violating the Medical Service Act in connection with her involvement in a nursing facility.
She illegally received about 2.29 billion won (US$20 million) from the National Health Insurance Service while running the nursing hospital in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, from 2013-2015 along with three business partners, according to the Seoul Central District Prosecutors Office.
It seemed like with all the negative publicity it was only a matter of time before this happened:
Belgium will bring home its ambassador to South Korea amid public anger over his wife’s alleged assault of two employees at a shop in Seoul.
The Belgium Embassy said the country’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sophie Wilmès, decided it was in the best interest of bilateral relations to end Ambassador Peter Lescouhier’s tenure this summer.
He has been the envoy in Seoul for three years. The embassy didn’t provide a specific date on when Lescouhier’s term will end or name a replacement.
While Lescouhier served his country with dedication, “the current situation doesn’t allow him to further carry out his role in a serene way,” the embassy said on Monday.
You can read more at the link, but her diplomatic immunity has also been partially waived. She can be investigated by the Korean police, but not tried or punishment.
This blurred surveillance footage, obtained by Yonhap News TV from the victim’s family on April 20, 2021, shows the scene of an incident in which the wife of Belgian Ambassador Peter Lescouhier allegedly assaulted two employees at a local clothing store. (Yonhap)
Having been probed over assault allegations, the wife of Belgian Ambassador to South Korea Peter Lescouhier will avoid assault charges due to diplomatic immunity.
The spouse faced police questioning on May 6 over allegations that she slapped a clothing store employee in the face and another staff in the back of her head early last month.
You can read more at the link, but I suspect that the ambassador will likely be removed by Belgium and replaced with someone else since his wife is now persona non-grata in South Korea.
