Category: Korean Government

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.

Here is an excerpt from a joint statement put out by former senior officials of the Korean Foreign Service that was translated by Dr. Tara O:

With massive economic, financial, and technological assistance from our staunch allies, including the United States and Japan, Korea was not only able to quickly rebuild its economy, but concentrate on developing key sectors, such as heavy industry, petrochemicals, construction, shipbuilding, automobiles, and the electronics industry, including semiconductors, to become one of the world’s leading industrial and trade powerhouses.

Strenuously ignoring this proud history of its foundation and the development of the Republic of Korea, President Moon Jae-in continues to threaten the Republic of Korea-U.S. alliance, which has served as the cornerstone of our nation’s development.

The close ties between our two nations is under assault from several fronts, including the transfer of wartime operational control between Korea and the U.S., a lukewarm response to the deployment of THAAD on the peninsula, refusal to take part in the U.S.-led missile defense system, and vacillation over participating in a Korea-U.S.-Japan partnership.

In its foreign policy towards Japan, the Moon administration has adopted the anachronistic stance of treating Japan as if it were still yesterday’s imperialist power, instead of one of today’s important defenders of free democracy and a member of the G7 countries.  The Moon administration continuously provokes Japan over emotionally-charged disputes regarding the misfortunes in the history of the two countries, and thereby not only harming our national interests, but earning the reproach of the international community.

Overly conscious of China, the Moon administration has adopted a recalcitrant attitude towards the Korea-U.S. defense partnership, making promises contrary to the Korea-U.S.-Japan alliance and taking an almost servile attitudes towards China, with little regard to our national sovereignty. 

On the other hand, the administration is relentlessly extending unrealistic reconciliatory gestures towards North Korea, the very party that has threatened our national foundation and subsequent stable and peaceful economic development.

East Asia Research Center

You can read more at the link.

#MoonJaein nominated Inspector Yoon Seok-ryul, who viciously went after Moon's political opponents, to the post of chief prosecutor. https://t.co/Jgkn1APjBK

— Tara O (@DrTaraO) June 17, 2019

Seoul City Mayor spends budget like water for populist policy, including "free cash" to youths, & raises taxes. So does Gyeonggi governor Lee Jae-myeong. So does Moon Jae-in. Why do they so doggedly pursue what Maduro has done in Venezuela? https://t.co/VEF5EdT6aV

— Tara O (@DrTaraO) May 26, 2019

Kim San-jo, #SouthKorea's Fair Trade Commission head, says #MoonJaein is like Steve Jobs #2. What? Kim & Moon both r busy over-regulating businesses, kicking out CEOs, investigating/harassing businesses non-stop, & stifle innovation. Where's the similarity? https://t.co/rXoxrJdIrz

— Tara O (@DrTaraO) May 28, 2019

It appears the ROK foreign ministry is not very good at keeping state secrets:

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has come under fire once again for an ethical lapse among its staff after a diplomat leaked information from a telephone conversation between President Moon Jae-in and U.S. President Donald Trump. 

Cheong Wa Dae and the ministry are considering legal action against the 54-year-old diplomat for allegedly leaking the confidential information to Rep. Khang Hyo-shang, a lawmaker from the main opposition Liberty Korea Party (LKP).

The diplomat, working at the South Korean Embassy in Washington, D.C., is suspected of sharing some key details of the Moon-Trump phone conversation with his high school alumni Khang, the day after the two leaders held talks. 

The presidential office said the diplomat admitted to the incident. 

“The telephone conversations between leaders of two countries are identified and categorized as the third-highest level of state diplomatic secrecy,” a senior presidential aide told reporters in a briefing, Thursday.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

Since the #MoonJaein administration took over 2 years ago, its policies have yielded many public enterprises to go in red. This time, it's the post office. $168M loss. The first time in 135 years–that's even older than #SouthKorea. https://t.co/mHDO4VPluq

— Tara O (@DrTaraO) May 21, 2019