Category: Korean Government

How come I feel this is just a big dog and pony show to help smooth the way towards Cho Kuk nomination approval next week?:

The prosecution began investigating allegations surrounding justice minister nominee Cho Kuk and his family, Tuesday, carrying out large-scale search and seizure raids on a dozen schools and other facilities linked to the suspicions.

According to the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office, investigators conducted searches at Busan Medical Center, and Seoul National (SNU), Korea, Dankook and Kongju National universities for evidence related to the allegations of preferential treatment given to Cho’s daughter in her college admissions and receipt of scholarships.

The law enforcement agency also sent investigators to a private equity firm that Cho made a huge investment in amid suspicions that he tried to transfer his wealth to his children without paying taxes; as well as a private school foundation run by his mother. 

Currently, 11 complaints have been filed with the prosecution regarding the scandal. 

“As public concern has been raised over the allegations against Cho, we decided to conduct the raids to clarify the facts,” a prosecutor said.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link, but would anyone be surprised if the Blue House announces that these raids produced no evidence thus Cho’s nomination should be approved next week.

It looks like President Moon is committed to ramming through his Justice Minister nomination despite the corruption allegations against him:

A parliamentary panel decided Monday to hold a confirmation hearing next week for justice minister nominee Cho Kuk, who faces snowballing corruption allegations involving his family.

Political parties agreed to hold the two-day hearing on Sept. 2-3, according to lawmakers sitting on the legislation and judiciary committee.

The last-minute deal was reached after the ruling party threatened to hold a “people’s hearing” Tuesday where Cho could clarify allegations to the public.

Public uproar mounted over his qualifications amid a series of scandals ranging from illicit college admission allegations about Cho’s daughter and his family’s dubious investment in a private equity fund (PEF) and other corruption allegations.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but the ramming through of yet another government official with corruption allegations against them continues to show the hypocrisy of the Moon administration that came to power vowing to fight for a “fair and just society”:

President Moon Jae-in said “there is a saying that corruption turns everything into naught. we must fight corruption in order to realize a fair and just society.” And he also added that “over the past several years, the power squeezed the livelihood of the people through unjust and corruptive ways and wasted the people’s tax money as if their own while executing state powers, thereby routinizing cheating and special privileges in our society. 

Cheongwadae, Sept. 2017

It seems the Moon administration is just more Korean governmental business as usual.

Here are the defense upgrades that the ROK government plans to invest in:

 South Korea plans to add two more ground-based anti-missile early warning radars and begin building three Aegis-equipped destroyers in the next five years in an effort to better detect and intercept incoming missiles from North Korea, the defense ministry said Wednesday.

The plan was one of the key projects that the ministry unveiled in its five-year defense blueprint for 2020-2024 amid heightened concerns about North Korea’s missile capabilities in the wake of a series of test-firings of what Pyongyang claimed were new weapons. (……..)

It will also seek to enhance its multi-layered interception capabilities by deploying the improved version of interceptors — Patriot Advanced Capability (PAC)-3 and Cheolmae-II missiles, while wrapping up the development of L-SAM, a long-range surface-to-air missile.

With a goal to boost its “strategic target strike” capabilities against nuclear and missile facilities, the ministry vowed to secure more precision-guided missiles to be launched from the ground, the sea, submarines and fighter jets.

The development of additional non-lethal weapons will also be pushed for, such as electromagnetic pulse bombs and blackout ones, to neutralize North Korea’s electric power system in contingencies, according to the ministry. 

In order to “significantly” boost reconnaissance and surveillance capabilities of its own, the ministry also vowed to deploy five military satellites by 2023 and multiple mid- and high-altitude drones over the next five years. South Korea plans to add two more ground-based anti-missile early warning radars and begin building three Aegis-equipped destroyers in the next five years in an effort to better detect and intercept incoming missiles from North Korea, the defense ministry said Wednesday.

The plan was one of the key projects that the ministry unveiled in its five-year defense blueprint for 2020-2024 amid heightened concerns about North Korea’s missile capabilities in the wake of a series of test-firings of what Pyongyang claimed were new weapons. (……..)

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but does anyone really think the Moon administration will purchase all these capabilities? This announcement almost sounds like a negotiating tactic to stop the Trump administration from demanding that the ROK pay more for the upkeep of the US-ROK alliance.

It is being reported that President Moon’s trial balloon specialist, Moon Chung-in who has spoke about ending the US-ROK alliance and has advocated for helping North Korea evade sanctions may be picked to be the next ambassador to the United States:

Conservatives squawked Thursday about the possibility that President Moon Jae-in will send special adviser Moon Chung-in to Washington as Korea’s ambassador. 

“How can you possibly send a destroyer of the Korea-U.S. alliance to be ambassador to the United States?” Chairman Hwang Kyo-ahn of the Liberty Korea Party (LKP) said Thursday during a meeting of the party leadership.

Hwang was reacting to media reports saying that the president’s special adviser for foreign affairs and national security would be named to replace current U.S. Ambassador Cho Yoon-je. 

“This is the worst example of the president’s arrogance and high-handedness,” Hwang said. “[Moon Chung-in] even argued that the Korea-U.S. alliance must end. What will he do if he is appointed ambassador? We can never agree to such an appointment. The people won’t accept it either.” 

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link, but the best to think of Moon Chung-in is as the anti-John Bolton of South Korea.

😐

Is this wise? I mean, wrongs should be righted. But SKorea is going to be taken off Japan's white list tomorrow. China and Russia are literally encircling SKorea. Is this the right time or wise to pick a fight with the US? Is the SKorean government TRYING to isolate itself? https://t.co/Ud8UZY9Kgd

— John Lee (The Korean Foreigner) (@koreanforeigner) August 1, 2019

Surely, he's referring to soccer? #Incendiary #Propaganda #Agitation #DPRKStyle https://t.co/XB7hheJZa2

— Sung-Yoon Lee (@SungYoonLee1) August 2, 2019

Well it is now official that South Korea has been removed from Japan’s so called “white list” of favored trading nations:

 Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon on Saturday blasted Japan for its decision to remove South Korea from a whitelist of trusted trading partners, saying that it “crossed a line it should not have.” 

“(The decision) is the second retaliation after the country imposed export restrictions on key chip materials,” Lee said at a Cabinet meeting. 

He also said such moves could “jeopardize bilateral relations between South Korea and Japan, international free trade and interdependent economic cooperation regime, and cause a crack in the three-way security alliance with the United States.” 

“We cannot but sternly deal with the matter.” 

On Friday, Japan’s Cabinet passed a bill striking South Korea from its list of countries that require only minimal procedures to purchase sensitive materials that can be used for military use. 

South Korean President Moon Jae-in has denounced Japan’s move as a “very reckless decision”, warning that South Korea will take corresponding measures and Japan will bear full responsibility for the consequences.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but what I find most interesting is that the Moon administration has a more stern response to Japan over a trade spat the ROK government created in the first place, than North Korea shooting off missiles the Kim regime states are meant to destroy Seoul.

So when is the Korean government going to show this level of anger at North Korea for not complying with their military agreements with South Korea?

The tensions between South Korea and Japan could end up having security impacts as well if the Blue House seeks to end the GSOMIA which authorizes the two countries to share intelligence information:

 A rancorous diplomatic spat between South Korea and Japan is casting doubts over the fate of a military intelligence-sharing pact seen as a rare symbol of their trust and a key platform for trilateral security cooperation involving the United States.

The tussle that started from a simmering row over Japan’s wartime forced labor has been escalating into the economic domain with Tokyo’s July 4 measure to tighten restrictions on exports to South Korea of key industrial materials. 

It is now feared to be spilling over into the security realm, apparently putting Washington on edge as the U.S. is keen on firming up cooperation with its two Asian allies to promote regional stability amid North Korea’s lingering threats and China’s growing assertiveness.

The General Security of Military Information Agreement (GSOMIA) between Seoul and Tokyo is automatically renewed every year unless either side expresses its intent to rescind it 90 days ahead of the end of its extendable one-year period.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but clearly the Moon administration is willing to bargain with the GSOMIA because they feel the current peace process with North Korea means intelligence from Japan is not needed.

However, this whole dispute could be ended today if the Moon administration does not move forward with seizing the assets of Japanese companies in South Korea. However, the Moon administration miscalculated in their Japan bashing and have gone so far now it is hard politically for the Moon administration to change course.

ROK Drop favorite Dr. Tara O has a good and very detailed article published about the impeachment of former President Park Geun-hye. The crux of Park’s impeachment has always been the tablet PC which many people don’t even realize was likely a fraud and not even submitted as evidence during President Park’s criminal trial:

JTBC’s claims about the tablet have not been verified.  In fact, the government’s forensic report indicates many of the documents were put into the tablet after JTBC found the tablet.  The forensic report also showed that there were multiple users of the tablet, so it could not determine to whom the tablet belonged.  The forensic report did not surface until it was too late–a year later, which is a long time after Park was already impeached. Some continued to question the validity of JTBC and Sohn Suk-hee’s claims about the tablet, and the loudest were put in jail–journalists Byun Hee-jai, and later Hwang Ui-won, Byun’s journalist colleague at the same small media outlet called MediaWatch. 

Despite what the forensic report shows, the prosecutor for Byun Hee-jai maintains that the tablet belongs to Choi, and the judges have refused, thus far, to grant Byun’s request for further discovery of the truths behind the tablet–a violation of the principle of self-defense.  Many people do not even know that the tablet was not the “smoking gun” evidence for the impeachment that JTBC claimed it was. 

In fact, the court never even admitted the tablet as evidence for either Park Geun-hye’s impeachment trial or the criminal trials that followed.  JTBC later stated that “even if there was no such thing as the [insignificant] tablet PC…, [it wouldn’t have mattered]” after initially stating the tablet was the “smoking gun.”

East Asia Research Center

Here is the most suspicious part of Park’s impeachment, the rush to get rid of her:

The National Assembly impeached the nation’s president, Park Geun-hye, in a rush.  There was no hearing, no investigation, and the voting occurred only six days after the introduction of the impeachment bill.  This rushed and unreasonable, if not unconstitutional, impeachment process differs from the U.S. President Richard Nixon case, in which there existed two separate investigations totaling 1 year and 6 months.

I think it is arguable that the impeachment had to be rushed because a true investigation would have uncovered that the tablet PC was not the smoking gun the media made it out to be.

You can read much more about Park’s impeachment at the link.

There is so much irony here when President Moon calls the Japanese trade restrictions “politically motivated”. Wasn’t the Moon administration’s attacks on Japan cancelling the comfort women agreement and threatening to confiscate assets of Japanese companies politically motivated?:

 President Moon Jae-in on Wednesday ratcheted up the pressure on Japan to stop heading toward a “dead end” with “politically motivated” export restrictions against South Korea.

Speaking at a meeting with dozens of local business leaders at Cheong Wa Dae in Seoul, he stressed that the government is doing its best for a diplomatic resolution to the problem.

“I hope the Japanese government will respond to it,” Moon said. “I hope it will no longer go toward a dead end.”

He pointed out that Japan has taken the measure to damage the South Korean economy for political purposes, even groundlessly connecting it with sanctions on North Korea.

The move is “never desirable” for friendly ties and security cooperation between the two nations and is harmful to their economies and the global economy, Moon added.

He made it clear that his administration will push for international cooperation to cope with Japan’s action, while preparing for every possibility, such as a drawn-out bilateral trade standoff.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.