Category: Politics-Korea

The nursing act that has caused huge protests in South Korea from the health care community against it, has been vetoed by President Yoon:

A Cabinet meeting led by President Yoon Suk Yeol is held at the presidential office in Seoul on May 16, 2023. (Yonhap)

President Yoon Suk Yeol rejected the opposition-led nursing act Tuesday amid strong protests from doctors and nursing assistants against it, exercising his veto power for the second time since taking office.

The act, which was railroaded by the main opposition Democratic Party last month, is aimed at stipulating the roles and responsibilities of nurses, and improving their working conditions.

“The people’s health cannot be exchanged for anything,” Yoon said during a Cabinet meeting at the presidential office, before rejecting the legislation and asking the National Assembly to reconsider it.

Yoon said people’s health comes ahead of anything else, such as politics, foreign policy and economic policy, and can only be properly maintained through cooperation between various groups of medical professionals.

“The nursing act is creating excessive conflict between these related groups, and the move to separate nursing services from medical institutions is causing people to feel anxious about their health,” he said.

Yonhap

Here is why there has been much criticism of the bill:

Doctors and nursing assistants have opposed the bill, arguing the legislation would cause confusion in the medical sector because it could lead to nurses opening their own clinics without doctors’ supervision and that nursing assistants could be discriminated against.

You can read more at the link.

The Korean left has long hated Tae Yong-ho because he is a North Korean defector turned politician who has stood against their attempts to appease the Kim regime and often challenges their dogma in regards to historical issues. So anything with a sliver of truth they will use to discredit him or their ultimate goal to drive him out of office:

Rep. Tae Yong-ho of the People Power Party (PPP) on Wednesday flatly denied allegations that he received an illegal political donation around last year’s local elections amid several other looming controversies surrounding him.

According to a media report, the North Korean defector-turned-lawmaker allegedly accepted political funds from elected councilors of his constituency in Seoul’s Gangnam district, in return for backing their nomination. 

The donations were allegedly split up and given under the names of their families and acquaintances.

“I would like to clarify at this moment that I am confident that there is not a single stain regarding the issue of fundraising,” Tae said in a press conference held at the National Assembly.

Tae also denied media reports that senior presidential political affairs secretary Lee Jin-bok asked him to make remarks in support of Korea-Japan relations while talking about the issue of party nominations for next year’s general elections.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Who would have thought an idiot 21 year old National Guardsman trying to win Internet arguments in a Discord chatroom would cause a massive slide in President Yoon’s approval ratings?:

Kim Tae-hyo, deputy national security director, speaks to reporters at Incheon International Airport, Saturday, after returning from his Washington trip. Yonhap

Expectations were high among presidential aides and ruling party politicians only two weeks ago when it was announced that President Yoon Suk Yeol would address the U.S. Congress on April 27 during his trip to Washington. 

Many thought that his state visit to the United States ― the first by a Korean head of state in 12 years ― would help him recover his image as a trusted leader and put a stop to his declining approval ratings following his hasty and controversial push to improve relations with Japan.

Yet skepticism is now growing that his visit will do little to achieve those goals. A mix of U.S. surveillance allegations, Washington’s irresponsible response and ― most importantly ― the Yoon administration’s poor handling of the situation has put the president in another political bind.

On Saturday, nearly 20,000 protesters gathered in the streets of central Seoul, denouncing the administration for its “humiliating diplomacy.”

“Despite the thief who stole our secret safe before the U.S. trip, [the administration] claims that it was a good thief and had goodwill,” activist Kim Min-woong said during the protest. “Shouldn’t the U.S. apologize? This country (Korea) has become a global pushover, which does not complain even when its sovereignty is violated. Humiliating.” (……)

With the U.S. offering no public apologies or promises to stop spying on Korea, the public has been upset, and they’re taking it out on Yoon. According to a poll released by Gallup Korea Friday, the president’s approval rating dropped to 27 percent from 31 percent a week ago, with 28 percent of the respondents disapproving of his diplomatic activities as their main reason. It was the first time his approval rating fell below 30 percent since November 2022 following the Itaewon crowd disaster, which killed at least 158 people.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link, but it is no surprise that the Korean left is demagoguing this issue acting like the ROK doesn’t collect intelligence on the United States.

Lee Jae-myung is just surrounded by scandal. If he had won the Presidency in 2022 I wonder if these bribes would have ever been investigated?:

The leader of the main opposition Democratic Party (DP) apologized Monday over snowballing allegations that cash envelopes were distributed to lawmakers and party members as bribes ahead of a 2021 national convention held to elect a new party leader.

Prosecutors are investigating suspicions that envelopes containing cash totaling 94 million won (US$71,700) were handed out to members of the then ruling DP to help then lawmaker Song Yong-gil be elected as the party chair ahead of the party convention in May 2021. 

Song eventually won the election.

“As party leader, I deeply apologize for causing people concern over this issue,” Rep. Lee Jae-myung, chairman of the DP, said during a party meeting at the National Assembly.

Prosecutors have raided the homes and offices of Reps. Youn Kwan-suk and Lee Sung-man for their alleged involvement in distributing the money collected from regional businesspeople. Youn and Lee served in Song’s campaign ahead of the national convention.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but this has to make people wonder if Lee Jae-myung was handing out cash envelopes when he was elected the Democratic Party leader in 2022?

It will be interesting to see if this bill eventually gets passed or not considering so many Americans do not have their own healthcare:

A U.S. lawmaker has submitted a bill calling for the provision of healthcare services to former Korean veterans of the Vietnam War who have since become naturalized citizens of the United States, the lawmaker’s office said Friday.

Rep. Mark Takano (D-CA) introduced the Korean American Vietnam Allies Long Overdue for Relief Act or Korean American VALOR Act in January.

“As Ranking Member of the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs (VA), I introduced the Korean American VALOR Act to provide some measure of long overdue parity for these Vietnam War veterans,” Takano was quoted as saying in a legislation hearing held Wednesday.

“They served side-by-side with U.S. troops and have since become U.S. citizens, but they have never been eligible for VA healthcare services,” Takano added, according to his office.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

President Yoon is absolutely correct in his comments:

President Yoon Suk Yeol on Tuesday refuted domestic criticism against his efforts to mend ties with Japan despite Tokyo’s reluctance to issue an additional apology for its past wartime wrongdoings, saying that neglecting the frayed relationship with the neighboring country for political interest is tantamount to dereliction of the president’s duty.

“The previous government left the troubled relationship between South Korea and Japan untouched and this resulted in the people of both countries and ethnic South Koreans living in Japan suffering, and the security and economies of both countries falling into a deep abyss,” Yoon said during his 25-minute opening speech at a Cabinet meeting.

“I also could have chosen an easy path for immediate political gains and left the worst-ever South Korea-Japan relations unaddressed. However, I believed that neglecting grave international circumstances and exploiting the hostile nationalism and anti-Japan sentiment for domestic politics are nothing more than abandoning my duties as the president.”

Yoon’s unscheduled speech came amid his faltering job approval ratings after last week’s summit with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. 

Fueling anti-Japan sentiment among South Koreans is the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) that has been harshly criticizing the president for having “paid tribute to Japan” with his “abysmal summit.” (………)

“In our society, there are groups which are seeking political gains by evoking exclusive nationalism and anti-Japan sentiment,” Yoon said, referring to the DPK’s criticism. “Japan has expressed its remorse and apologies over the history issue tens of times.”

Yoon cited past apologies released by the Japanese government, including the 1998 joint declaration announced by then South Korean President Kim Dae-jung and Japanese Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi. In the declaration, Obuchi expressed his deep remorse and apology for the “tremendous damage and suffering” the South Korean people experienced during Japan’s 1910-45 colonial occupation. 

Korea Times

You can read more at the link from President Yoon’s speech. The political opposition continues to call the Yoon administration “traitors” and vows to launch investigations against them for improving ties with Tokyo.

Like I have said before, but it is hard to take the political opposition seriously when they supported the North Korea policies of the prior Korean President Moon Jae-in. Kim Jong-un is in charge of a North Korean regime that has killed far more Koreans than Imperial Japan could ever dream of. Additionally Kim Jong-un is in charge of a regime that continues to regularly threaten South Korea with annihilation and enslaves a large amount of Koreans in labor camps among other human rights violations. Why isn’t the political opposition demanding constant apologies from the Kim regime?

Instead the political opposition is more concerned about stopping cooperation with a country that actually wants to help South Korea defend itself from annihilation from North Korea. When the opponents of President Yoon start making demands for apologies and compensation from North Korea then maybe I will take their claims against Japan seriously.

Lee Jae-myung is turning into the Bill Clinton of South Korea with all the investigations and suicides around him:

Police launched an investigation Thursday into the apparent suicide of former chief of staff of Rep. Lee Jae-myung, head of the main opposition Democratic Party, investigators said.

Lee’s former aide, surnamed Jeon, was reportedly found dead at his home in Seongnam, south of Seoul, by his family, at around 8: 50 p.m., according to officials. 

Authorities believe Jeon, who served as Lee’s chief of staff during his term as the governor of Gyeonggi Province, died by suicide.

Besides as Lee’s top aide, Jeon had also served as a senior manager of Gyeonggi Housing & Urban Development Corp.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

This is likely why Lee Jae-myung ran for the National Assembly and became the opposition party leader so he could get immunity from the charges he saw building against him. What is surprising about these results is that many in his own party voted in favor of his arrest:

The National Assembly voted Monday to reject the government’s request for consent to arrest opposition leader Lee Jae-myung over corruption charges by a margin of only one vote, a surprising result that shows many of Lee’s own party voted for his arrest.

The motion was voted down 139-138 with nine abstentions and 11 deemed invalid.

The result, though in line with widespread views that Lee’s main opposition Democratic Party (DP) would use its majority power to reject the request, came as a surprise because it could mean that up to 30 DP lawmakers could have cast dissenting votes.

The DP, which has 169 lawmakers in the 299-seat National Assembly, had urged its lawmakers to reject the motion, denouncing the prosecution’s attempt to arrest Lee as political revenge by President Yoon Suk Yeol against his presidential election rival.

All DP lawmakers took part in the vote. 

In order for the motion to pass, it required a majority of the Assembly members to vote, and a majority of those voting to cast their ballots in favor. In Monday’s case, at least 149 votes were needed in favor of Lee’s arrest, as 297 out of 299 National Assembly members took part in the vote. 

By law, parliamentary consent is necessary to arrest a lawmaker while parliament is in session.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but maybe someone in the Korean media just needs to “find” a tablet PC with incriminating evidence against Lee on it like the opposition did to impeach former President Park.

This is definitely a sign of how bad the political discourse in South Korea has become:

Controversy is growing over an event arranged by a left-wing civic group, which allowed participants to shoot toy arrows at photos of President Yoon Suk Yeol, first lady Kim Keon Hee and Justice Minister Han Dong-hoon. 

Critics said the event encouraged excessive hatred that is already prevalent in Korean society, noting that it should be taken seriously as even children were welcomed to participate. 

The event was part of a rally held Saturday in central Seoul by a civic group calling for the resignation of the Yoon government and for a special counsel probe into stock manipulation allegations involving the first lady. Han, who was a senior prosecutor, is a close aide of Yoon. 

“The prosecutor-turned-president has abused the prosecution’s power all over the country, threatening the country’s democracy,” said Rep. Lee Su-jin of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea, who participated in the rally.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.