Category: Korean Government

Sure he is sorry (insert eye roll):

Unification Minister Cho Myoung-gyon held meeting with defectors in Seoul on Wednesday where he apologized for his controversial decision to prevent a defector-turned-journalist from covering recent inter-Korean talks, a participant said.

Cho had a lunch meeting with representatives of three North Korean defector groups at a Seoul restaurant to explain his position on the controversy and listen to defectors’ opinions on pending inter-Korean issues.

One participant said after the meeting, “Minister Cho said sorry and made an apology for excluding a defector-turned-journalist from the coverage of inter-Korean talks.”

The minister recently caused a stir by excluding a defector-turned-journalist of the conservative Chosun Ilbo daily newspaper from the pool of reporters covering high-level inter-Korean talks held at the truce village of Panmunjom on Oct. 15.  [Chosun Ilbo]

You can read more at the link, but this is just another example of how the Moon administration has been stomping out conservative media coverage in South Korea.

#SouthKorean PM Lee said "He was great, but frugal, frugal, but great. He loved his subjects & he received the love of his subjects. I become endlessly small & ashamed when faced with the life of 'juseok." (A term used for a communist leader)" when visiting Ho Chi Min museum. https://t.co/pbDeQq6jGd

— Tara O (@DrTaraO) October 3, 2018

It looks like the Moon administration has found another governmental figure from the former Park government timeframe to go after:

President Moon’s approval rating is still high, but has dropped by 23 total points since May.  The drop is largely due to the economic woes caused by the increase in the minimum wage.  If his North Korea engagement policies fail that will likely be what drops him well below 50%.  Remember President Moon was only elected President with 41% of the vote.  He has been given a lot of goodwill for his North Korea engagement by the ROK public that could quickly shift if real results don’t happen:

President Moon Jae-in’s approval rating continued to drop last week amid worsening economic conditions, a poll showed Monday.

Moon’s approval rating came to 55.2 percent in a survey conducted by Realmeter, down 0.8 percentage point from the week before.

The weekly survey was conducted Monday through Friday, involving 2,507 adults throughout the nation.

The reading was the third consecutive week the rating had dropped and was a record low since the president took office in May 2017.

Moon faces strong criticism for his iconic income-led growth strategy that seeks to boost the income of wage earners, which he says will lead to a rise in domestic consumption, revitalizing the whole economy.

Apparently swayed by the new government strategy, the tripartite commission on the minimum wage hiked it by 16.4 percent to 7,530 won ($6.75) per hour at the start of this year. The minimum wage is again set to jump 10.9 percent to 8,350 won per hour in 2019.

Such a steep increase, however, is believed to have forced local businesses to cut back on jobs instead.  [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link.

It looks like President Moon is responding to declining approval ratings and increasing criticism to his economic policies by increasing welfare spending:

Starting this month, basic pension payments will rise and more families will be eligible to receive childcare subsidies.

The Health and Welfare Ministry has increased the monthly basic pension from 200-thousand to 250-thousand won for people 65 and older who fall in the bottom 70 percent income group.

Most families raising a child aged five or younger will also receive 100-thousand won each month from September. For a household of three, combined income will need to be below eleven-point-seven million won a month to be eligible for the benefit.

Those who are eligible for the childcare stipend can apply at local administration offices or at the Web site bokjiro.go.kr. The first payment will be on September 21st.

Monthly benefits for people with serious disabilities will also rise 50-thousand won to as much as 250-thousand.  [KBS World]

President Moon appears to be doubling down on his policies:

President Moon Jae-in called Saturday for an unswerving reform drive despite a falling approval rating and controversies over his economic policy.

He was speaking at an unprecedented gathering of all ruling party lawmakers, Cabinet members and presidential officials.

It came two days after Moon’s first Cabinet shake-up to replace five ministers, including the defense chief and the top education policymaker.

Late last month, the Democratic Party of Korea picked Rep. Lee Hae-chan, a seven-term lawmaker, as its new leader.

“The task of the times that we have to achieve together is clear,” Moon said at the meeting held at his office Cheong Wa Dae.

It’s to create a fair and just country through strong and constant reform measures, widely dubbed the “liquidation of past malpractices.”  [Yonhap]

I wonder which malpractices is he referring to?  Is the founding of the Republic of Korea one of the malpractices?  It may be considering how President Moon has denied that the ROK was not founded in 1948.

He pointed out that South Korea is at a time of a “grand shift.”

He stressed the need for addressing the gap between the haves and have-nots via an appropriate distribution policy and promoting the co-prosperity between South and North Korea on the basis of denuclearization and a peace regime.

What is an appropriate distribution policy?  The only distribution I have been hearing about is the ROK money expected to be redistributed to Kim Jong-un.  Also notice the term “peace regime” being used by Moon.  That is the preferred term now by ROK leftists to disguise their real intention of forming a confederation with North Korea.

To that end, the president said, Cheong Wa Dae, the ruling party and the government should make concerted efforts.

Moon, in particular, cited negative side effects from South Korea’s growth-oriented approach in the past, such as widening income disparity and misconducts by some vested powers.

Inter-Korean relations were once broken and the cloud of war was cast over Korea, he said.   [Yonhap]

President Moon does not like South Korea’s growth oriented economy that has brought remarkable affluence to South Korea in an incredibly short time? Also by vested powers is President Moon referring to the United States?

You can read more at the link.

A ROK Air Force general will now being taking over as the ROK Defense Minister.  This is the first time a ROK Air Force veteran will be defense minister in 24 years.  I wonder if this pick is to counterbalance the influence of the ROK Army that may not be as supportive of removing South Korean defenses along the DMZ as President Moon may like?:

South Korean President Moon Jae-in on Thursday nominated the head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff as defense minister.

Jeong Kyeong-doo, 58, a former fighter pilot, would take over the ministry as the government seeks to reduce tension and build trust with North Korea, and at a time of uncertainty over relations with main ally the United States.

Jeong, who is set to replace incumbent Song Young-moo, does not need parliament’s approval but must attend a hearing and answer legislators’ questions.

He would be South Korea’s first defense minister with an air force background in 24 years, media reported.  [Reuters]

You can read more at the link.

After firing the head of Statistics Korea who also happened to be a female, President Moon has replaced the female Labor Minister as well:

South Korean President Moon Jae-in’s relatively new administration is becoming synonymous with high turnover, as more women appointees are either being replaced or resigning after a year of service.

Seoul’s Labor Minister Kim Young-joo, one of the few women in government to occupy a high position, publicly disclosed her decision to “resign” on her Facebook page, the Korea Times reported Friday.

Kim has weathered several controversies as the Moon administration introduced a 52-hour workweek and raised the minimum wage. The latter policy drew the ire of small to medium-sized South Korean businesses.  (………..)

Kim’s statement appears to be referring to the Moon administration’s decision to replace her with a newly appointed labor minister, Lee Jae-gap, who heads the Korea Workers’ Compensation and Welfare Service, according to the Korea Times.  [UPI]

You can read more at the link, but how much the economic numbers change will be interesting to see.  Expect the now largely state controlled South Korean media to parrot whatever the new economic numbers are in the future.

So what do you do as President when you don’t like the economic statistics?  You fire the person giving you the statistics and replace them with someone who will give you statistics you prefer:

The Moon Jae-in government is facing backlash for replacing the head of its economic statistics agency, whose reports have shown the economy spiraling downward amid hikes in the minimum wage and the government’s income-led growth strategy.

On Monday, lawmakers from opposition parties criticized the Blue House decision on Sunday to replace the Statistics Korea commissioner.

Floor leader of the Liberty Korea Party (LKP) Kim Sung-tae said the person that should be replaced is not the head of Statistics Korea but Moon’s top economic adviser Jang Ha-sung, one of the architects of the income-led growth strategy.

“It’s like scolding a person who shouted ‘fire’ instead of the person who started the blaze,” said the LPK floor leader Kim.

Ham Jin-gyu, head of the LKP policy committee, stressed that the sacking threatens the independence of the statistics agency.

“Statistics Korea is not a department that sets up policy but rather announces statistics,” Ham said. “It’s worrying to think of what future statistics releases will be, considering that the Statistics Korea commissioner is changed just because they are not happy [with the statistics showing the state of the economy].”

On Sunday, the Blue House announced it was replacing the commissioner of Statistics Korea, Hwang Soo-kyeong. This came as a surprise since she only served 13 months in the job, considerably shorter than the average two years of her predecessors.

There is widespread speculation that Hwang lost her job due to the recent unfavorable reports including the worst jobs report in eight and half years and several reports describing a widening income gap between the rich and poor.  [Joong Ang Ilbo]

You can read more at the link, but to make this look even worse is the fact that one of the few women in the ROK government was fired and replaced with a male.  It will be interesting to see how much the statistics change.

I wonder if this proposed ban to save children from so called “harmful” information will include websites that push anti-Japanese viewpoints?:

The government is seeking to prevent children’s access to online communities that advocate hate and discriminatory speech against selective groups of people. The move aims to counter a social rift triggered and widened by extremist, gender-divided online communities _ the far-right troll website Ilbe, frequented almost exclusively by men, and the extreme feminist website WOMAD.

According to a report submitted by the Korea Communications Commission (KCC) to Rep. Noh Woong-rae of the Democratic Party of Korea, the commission seeks to revise relevant laws to designate such websites that foster hatred and discrimination as “harmful” to children.  [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link.