Category: Politics-Korea

I doubt Korean voters even care much about he reunification issue any more to get worked up about Lee Jae-myung abandoning this principle in the ROK Constitution:

Ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) presidential candidate Lee Jae-myung has created a controversy by stating “it is too late to pursue the unification” between the two Koreas, as this challenges South Korea’s Constitution as well as the DPK’s manifesto. 

During a meeting with university students in Asan, South Chungcheong Province, Saturday, Lee made the statement, adding “there is no need to elevate hostility by denying each other’s system and arguing over which can be absorbed by which.”

Lee made the remarks in answering a question about what would distinguish his North Korea policies from that of previous administrations.

The DPK candidate noted that he prefers a “de-facto unification status,” saying, “There is the argument that we should refrain from being too political and rather focus on practical approaches.”

Lee’s comments brought on a backlash as they go against South Korea’s Constitution, Article 4 which stipulates: “The Republic of Korea shall seek unification and shall formulate and carry out a policy of peaceful unification based on a basic free and democratic order.”

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

For anyone that thinks Democrats and Republicans are irresponsible spenders, this guy may have the craziest presidential platform I have seen yet:

 Pompously clad in a Joseon-era general’s suit of armor, a longsword in hand, Huh Kyung-young, honorary chief of a little known political party, showed up on horseback at an historic battlefield site northwest of Seoul in August to declare his presidential bid in yet another bout of his unique political gimmickry.

Enacting the Joseon army’s heroic victory over invading Japanese forces at Haengju Fortress in one of the major Imjin War battles (1592-1598), the 71-year-old made a spectacle by playing the role of a national hero who slices the enemies to death and saves the country, in front of journalists and supporters. 

He then changed into a sleek business suit and glided back to the audience in his famous Rolls Royce to declare his campaign pledge to run in the 2022 presidential election, solemn-faced throughout the whole event.

The pledges blatantly included a one-shot payment of 100 million won (US$85,258) to everyone aged 18 and above in emergency livelihood assistance upon his presidential victory, along with 1.5 million won in “public dividends” every month.

Huh also promised to give a newlywed couple 100 million won each as a subsidy, plus another 200 million won as a no-interest loan to help them buy a home. Giving birth will bring in another 50 million won per baby, he promised.

Huh said he will do away with 90 percent of the state penitentiary facilities, adopt a system to levy fines proportional to offenders’ wealth and collect “anti-tax evasion taxes” to bankroll his splurge of subsidies if he becomes president.

“Our nation is the world’s 10th-strongest economy, but the level of people’s lives is in 100th place. This attests to the fact that the country is not short on money, but it has a lot of thieves,” he rashly claimed.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but it only gets wackier about Huh Kyung-young. He even went to jail before for lying about being engaged to former President Park Geun-hye.

It is still early, but the polling shows that Korean conservatives do have a good shot of regaining the Blue House five years after the disastrous impeachment of former conservative President Park Geun-hye:

 Yoon Seok-youl, the presidential nominee of the main opposition People Power Party, is leading his opponent Lee Jae-myung of the ruling Democratic Party by nearly 12 percentage points in a hypothetical multicandidate race, a survey showed Monday.

Yoon garnered 43 percent support against Lee’s 31.2 percent in the survey conducted on 1,009 adults nationwide on Friday and Saturday, according to the Korea Society Opinion Institute (KSOI).

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Someone needs to give Presidential candidate Lee Jae-myung a lesson in capitalism:

Ruling Democratic Party of Korea presidential candidate Lee Jae-myung stirred controversy with his idea of putting a cap on the number of restaurants in the country, which the main opposition party described as “a totalitarian idea.”

During his visit to a traditional market in Gwanak District, Seoul, Wednesday, Lee floated the idea, saying, “I have a thought of running a system that puts a cap on the number of restaurants.”

Lee mentioned the idea while expressing concerns over the large number of people opening eateries, only to close them down after failing to make ends meet.

“Though debate is required for this idea, I think the system is necessary,” Lee said during a meeting with stall owners at the market. “I wasn’t able to introduce the system due to concerns that it could infringe on freedom, but I don’t think such a cap is a bad idea … It is not freedom to open restaurants randomly and go broke. Good regulations are needed.”

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

President Moon is going to have the prosecutors office that his administration controls do the investigation into the Seongnam Land Development Scandal:

 President Moon Jae-in on Tuesday ordered a thorough probe into a snowballing corruption scandal involving a close aide to the ruling Democratic Party’s presidential nominee.

Cheong Wa Dae spokeswoman Park Kyung-mee told reporters Moon instructed the prosecution and the police to “actively cooperate and do their utmost to uncover the factual truth through a swift and thorough investigation.”

This is the first time Moon has commented on the scandal that centers on allegations that the aide to Gyeonggi Gov. Lee Jae-myung was involved in allowing a little known asset management firm to make massive profits from a land development project in Seongnam, south of Seoul, when Lee was mayor of the city.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but the opposition party wants a special counsel that would be independent to do the investigation. Clearly the ruling party does not want this because using the prosecutors office to do the investigation will likely give them more control of what is uncovered prior to next Spring’s presidential election. I would not be surprised if not much of the investigation is released prior to the election unless someone leaks it.

The ruling party’s candidate for President Lee Jae-myung is doing what left wing politicians always do, promise spend a lot of money:

Gyeonggi Gov. Lee Jae-myung, named presidential candidate of the ruling Democratic Party Sunday, vowed to adopt universal basic income if elected, claiming that he would turn South Korea into the world’s first nation offering the subsidy package, even to the wealthy.

In his acceptance speech on Sunday, Lee highlighted his “basic agenda package,” which is expected to be the backbone of his economy policy if elected president. The package consists of a universal basic income plan, a basic housing program and a basic loan scheme, but has immediately sparked divided responses from onlookers for its impact on the economy and lack of resources.

The universal basic income scheme, under Lee, would provide all Korean citizens annual cash subsidies of at least 250,000 won ($209.16) from 2023. Koreans aged between 19 to 29 would start receiving an annual 1.25 million won each from 2023. 

Lee plans to ultimately raise the bottom line to 1 million won within his years in office. 

Korea Herald

You can read more at the link, but I wouldn’t mind these heavy spending proposals so much if these politicians would be honest and also explain what taxes would be raised to pay for it.

You know you don’t have much to debate when you have to play the anal acupuncturist card:

 Yoon Seok-youl, the leading opposition presidential candidate, has increasingly faced questions about superstitious or unscientific beliefs, this time over his alleged ties to an anal acupuncture specialist that he claims to have no knowledge of.

The allegation surfaced Tuesday during the sixth TV debate among presidential contenders of the main opposition People Power Party, when one of Yoon’s competitors, former Rep. Yoo Seong-min, asked him if he has met someone “known to perform acupuncture on a strange and particular area.” 

Yoon replied he had not. (…….)

Yoo’s campaign reprised the attack on Wednesday, issuing a statement asking “what is Yoon trying to hide by lying” about his relationship with the man.

Yoon’s campaign fired back: “Not only did (Yoo) turn the TV debate into a quiz show on psychics, he is now spreading lies. This attempt to damage Yoon is nothing short of shameful.”

On the video, a spokesperson for Yoon said the man had tried to approach the candidate at the event but was restrained by Yoon’s aides.

Moreover, the man in question was a regular feature not only at political events attended by Yoo, the former lawmaker, but also other political heavyweights such as the ruling Democratic Party’s presidential contender, Lee Nak-yon, minor People’s Party leader Ahn Cheol-soo and former U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, according to Yoon’s campaign.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

The ruling party has been attacking the opposition party’s presidential hopeful with corruption allegations so now they are fighting back with corruption allegations themselves against the ruling party’s candidate:

Clashes between rival political parties intensified Tuesday in connection with a sprawling regional development corruption scandal, causing disruptions of a series of parliamentary audit sessions of the government amid opposition calls for an independent counsel investigation.

At the start of at least three audit sessions, lawmakers of the main opposition People Power Party (PPP) hung banners on their desks calling for a special prosecutor probe and other slogans attacking the ruling Democratic Party and its presidential hopeful Gyeonggi Province Gov. Lee Jae-myung. 

In response, DP lawmakers boycotted the sessions, accusing the PPP of trying to take political advantage of the audit. Some DP members even put up their own banners claiming that the opposition party is to blame for the scandal.

The scandal escalated over the weekend with the arrest of Yoo Dong-gyu, widely considered a close aide to Gov. Lee, on charges that he played key roles in helping a private asset management firm collect astronomical profits from a land development project in Seongnam, south of Seoul.

Lee was mayor of Seongnam at the time.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but if Gov. Lee Jae-myung is found to be some how involved in this scandal this is far more serious than the allegations being thrown at his rival former Prosecutor General, Yoon Seok-youl.

Yoon Seok-youl may be interested in bringing U.S. tactical nukes back to South Korea, but does the U.S. want to do this? If the U.S. military needs to use nuclear weapons in response to a North Korean nuclear attack it seems a submarine would be just as effective?:

Yoon Seok-youl, the leading opposition presidential contender, said Wednesday he will demand the United States redeploy its tactical nuclear weapons here and have nuclear sharing with South Korea if national security is threatened by North Korea’s nukes and missiles.

Unveiling 11 election pledges on diplomacy and security issues, former Prosecutor-General Yoon said he will make efforts to strengthen the Seoul-Washington alliance to deter the North’s evolving nuclear and missile capabilities.

Yoon of the main opposition People Power Party (PPP) said he plans to seek consultation with the U.S. over the process to bring in U.S. nuclear strategic assets, such as intercontinental ballistic missiles, when emergency situations occur on the Korean Peninsula.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.