Category: Politics-Korea

It looks like US-ROK exercises will go back to Key Resolve and UFG level and diplomacy with Japan will be enhanced if I am reading the tea leaves correctly from President-elect Yoon’s recent statements:

South Korean President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol vowed Thursday to strengthen strategic alliance with the United States, build a strong national defense to deter North Korean provocations and pursue a future-oriented relationship with Japan, hours after winning the nation’s closely contested presidential election. (…..)

He promised to reconstruct South Korea-U.S. alliance and strengthen comprehensive strategic relationship with Washington by sharing the core values of human rights, market economy and human rights.

Earlier, Yoon talked with U.S. President Joe Biden on the phone prior to his visit to the Seoul National Cemetery and they affirmed strong bilateral alliance and close cooperation, according to PPP officials.” (…….)

In relations between South Korea and Japan, it is important to find out what will be beneficial to both countries and to the people of both countries in the future rather than in the past,” the president-elect said.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but Yoon has promised to respond “sternly” to any illegal North Korean actions or provocations with the international community. It is almost certainty based on that statement that North Korea is going to launch some provocation to test Yoon once he is President.

Fortunately Song Young-gil is out of the hospital and back campaigning for Lee Jae-myung, but what a nut job his assailant appears to be:

Video footage captured by a bystander showed the assailant dressed in hanbok (traditional Korean attire) holding a selfie stick in one hand and a black plastic bag in the other, which turned out to be concealing a hammer. The suspect was restrained by people at the scene and arrested on the spot by police.  
   
Song, bleeding from the head, was whisked to the emergency room of Severance Hospital in Sinchon. DP campaign officials later said Song’s skull was partially depressed, but that there was no damage to his brain or tissues, nor were there any signs of brain hemorrhage. The injuries, overall, were non-life-threatening, they confirmed.  
   
The suspect apparently had been following Song on the campaign trail since last month, as seen through videos he uploaded to his own YouTube channel. Witnesses said he shouted, “I am against South Korea-U.S. military exercises,” and “I can’t pass on such a world to young people.”  
   
Videos on his YouTube appeared to be generally in support of DP’s presidential candidate Lee, but a number of uploads were critical of Song. In one video, the suspect urged “anti-nationalist” Song to retire. 

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link.

Via a reader tip comes this news of irregularities once again with the early voting processes. If Yoon Suk-yeol loses a close election the ineptitude of the early voting will likely lead to mass protests. Hopefully this doesn’t happen, but clearly mass early voting and absentee ballots are once again damaging the creditability of an election:

Early voting for COVID-19 patients in the presidential election has ended with claims of election fraud, as voters alleged the National Election Commission (NEC) mishandled ballots at polling sites across the country.

Rival parties slammed the NEC’s “unpreparedness,” warning that polling station workers’ unprofessional handling of the early voting could trigger another vote-rigging controversy, following a previous conspiracy theory surrounding the 2020 National Assembly elections.  

On Sunday, the NEC released a statement on the previous day’s early voting for COVID-19 patients across the country in which it apologized for “any inconvenience caused to voters.”

“The voting method for COVID-19 patients was fully in compliance with laws and rules, with the presence of election observers recommended by political parties,” the NEC said in the statement.

“However, we should admit that there were shortcomings in carrying out COVID-19 patients’ early voting due to the unprecedentedly high turnout and limits in personnel and facilities.” The apology came after media reports and social media postings about the NEC’s mishandling of COVID-19 patients’ votes across the country on Saturday.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

It will be interesting to see what Ahn gets in return for joining the campaign of Yoon wins the Presidency. They do seem like quite the odd couple to be joining campaigns:

People Power Party Chairman Lee Jun-seok on Friday dismissed rumors of a co-chairmanship with Ahn Cheol-soo as various rumors about Ahn‘s next steps arose since his stepping out of the race. 

Ahn, the chairman of the minor opposition People’s Party, conceded his candidacy to the People Power Party’s Yoon Suk-yeol on Thursday. There were rumors about Ahn‘s next moves, including one about him possibly becoming a co-chairman of the main opposition once the two parties merged after the election. 

As local reports raised the possibility of Ahn undertaking a co-chairman position in the merged party, Lee dismissed the idea, saying he has not considered such an option. 

Korea Herald

You can read more at the link.

It seems like the Korean left is getting desperate with the Presidential election just days away by comparing Yoon to Trump:

Is Yoon Suk-yeol the South Korean Trump?

That is what his opponents and critics seem to think for the many parallels the conservative candidate from the People Power Party has with former US President Donald Trump. 

Both have made remarks that would be offensive to other countries, praised heavily controversial political figures, gone after foreigners and shown a poor understanding of feminism. On top of using anti-China rhetoric, the two also like to speak to their base on social media and announce policies that read like slogans. For example, Yoon’s “Abolish the Gender Equality Ministry” could be compared to Trump’s “Build the Wall.” 

With just a week left before the election, the long list of similarities between the two outsiders who came to represent their respective countries’ mainstream conservative parties seems to be only growing.

Many voters in Korea seem to believe the March 9 presidential election is about the liberals and whether they should be allowed to stay in power after major missteps like their housing policies. But experts who talked to The Korea Herald said it may be about K-Trumpism, or the rise of the alt-right movement in Korea, as seen in the United States, United Kingdom and some other democracies around the world. 

Korea Herald

You can read more at the link, but this opinion piece also claims that the election of Yoon would be a blow to democracy. Notice how if a conservative wins its always a blow to democracy with the left? Just like Trump was voted out in 2020 there will be an election again in five years if Yoon some how wins this upcoming election. Democracy will continue in South Korea.

I don’t know what point Sim Sang-jung as trying to make because it appears she wants the ROK to not pursue new weapons programs because it would upset North Korea and China? If Ukraine did not have advanced anti-tank and aircraft weapons right now they would have already lost the war. Is this what Ms. Sim wants for the ROK if attacked? If anything should be learned from Ukraine it is that the ROK needs to be militarily advanced and have strong friends to deter the threats from China and North Korea:

South Korea could become “the Ukraine of Asia” in the event of conflict between its ally the United States and its neighbor China, the progressive candidate for South Korean president said during a recent televised debate.

Sim Sang-jung, a National Assembly lawmaker and a former leader of the minority Justice Party, explained her vision for South Korea’s foreign policy on Friday as Russia continued its invasion of Ukraine. Sim and three other candidates are competing in the election March 9.

In her remarks, Sim compared South Korea’s relationships with China and the United States to the ongoing instability in Eastern Europe. Seoul’s relations with Beijing are experiencing a “breakdown,” and talk by other candidates of bolstering South Korea’s weapons programs may cause “considerable tension on the Korean Peninsula,” Sim said during the debate.

“We should learn from what happened in Ukraine now,” she said. “So, to speak, we can be the Ukraine of Asia when some strategic balance in northeast Asia collapses.”

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

Not smart of Lee Jae-myung to be insulting President Zelenskyy who maybe the most popular leader in the world right now:

Lee Jae-myung, the presidential candidate of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), has made an apology for his remarks about Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in a TV debate Friday regarding the cause of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which drew a backlash both here and abroad. 

“Unlike my intentions, if my words caused misunderstanding to Ukrainians, I lacked the ability to express myself well,” Lee wrote on Facebook, Saturday, adding that his remarks were mainly aimed at pointing out the ill-founded diplomatic and security views of his main rival Yoon Suk-yeol of the People Power Party rather than disparaging the Ukrainian president.

During the TV debate held, Friday, Lee said a novice politician with six months of political experience had become the country’s leader and caused a major clash by inciting Russia with a hasty promise regarding Ukraine’s admission into NATO. (……….)

Denouncing Lee as an international embarrassment, Yoon said he would make an apology to Ukraine on behalf of South Korea, citing posts critical of Lee’s remarks that have been uploaded on Reddit, a popular American online community.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

Lee Jae-myung is using the current war in Ukraine to claim the same thing can happen in Korea if Yoon Suk-yeol is elected:

Rival presidential candidates of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) and the main opposition People Power Party (PPP) clashed over their differing views of the lessons of Russia’s attack on Ukraine during their TV debate, Friday. The DPK’s Lee Jae-myung stressed a leader’s diplomatic capability, while the PPP’s Yoon Suk-yeol highlighted military deterrence to facilitate peace on the Korean Peninsula. 

“A novice politician who only has six months of political experience became the country’s leader and caused a major clash by inciting Russia with a hasty promise of Ukraine’s NATO admission,” Lee said of Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who was an actor and comedian before he was elected as the country’s leader in April 2019. 

“This is an example of a diplomatic failure. Yoon is too aggressive and rough in his diplomatic remarks, such as his pledge to establish South Korea’s capability to launch preemptive strikes (against North Korea).”

Lee’s comment came after Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Sunday. Along with international condemnation of Russia’s moves, criticism is also mounting over Zelenskyy’s diplomatic miscalculation, which is being blamed for steering his country towards a clash with Russia.

Yonhap

Here is how Yoon responded to Lee’s remarks which criticized his attempts to sign an end of war declaration with North Korea:

On the other hand, PPP candidate Yoon criticized Ukraine’s reliance on diplomatic agreements to maintain peace and emphasized the importance of military power and strong alliances to guarantee national security.

“You can only prevent war when you have the capability for preemptive strikes and have the intent to do so … I believe the case of Ukraine shows that you cannot protect national security and peace with paper and ink,” Yoon said, referring to the Minsk agreements or a series of pacts that sought to end fighting with Russia-backed separatists in the Donbas region of Ukraine.

“Candidate Lee and the current DPK administration stress the importance of an end-of-war declaration with North Korea, which will be done only on paper with ink. With North Korea refusing to give up its nuclear program, pushing forward the end-of-war declaration is the same as the case of Ukraine.” 

You can read more at the link, but if Yoon really wanted to hit Lee even harder he should of mentioned how Ukraine gave up their nuclear weapons in exchange for security guarantees back in the 1990’s. Look how that paper and ink agreement worked out for them. Does anyone really think that North Korea will abide by any paper and ink agreement as well?

Lee Jae-myung has now really doubled down on slinging as much mud on Yoon as possible considering he even used a prop at a debate to help do this:

Lee accused Yoon’s wife, Kim Keon-hee, of participating in stock manipulation in 2010 by Deutsch Motors, a BMW car dealer in Korea, and pressed the PPP candidate on the origins of her personal assets, worth approximately 7 billion won, given her monthly income of 2 million won.  
   
Yoon retorted that his wife had traded in stocks around the time of the Deutsch Motors stock manipulation, but was not involved in the scheme, and that she had seen both profits and losses on her stock trades over the years. He added that his wife had already amassed “significant personal assets” before 2010.  
   
The DP candidate also accused Yoon of being guilty of unspecified crimes, and at one point even pulled out a board with a written transcript of a recorded conversation between Kim Man-bae, the owner of a small asset management company at the center of the Daejang-dong development corruption scandal, and another unnamed individual talking about Yoon’s alleged past misdeeds. 

Kim, a former reporter who interviewed Lee in 2014 when the latter was still mayor of Seongnam, Gyeonggi, has been indicted of committing breach of trust and bribery in connection with the Daejang-dong development.  
   
His relationship with Lee gave rise to unproven suspicions that the DP candidate was behind the inclusion of Hwacheon Daeyu and its affiliates in the residential development.  
   
Hwacheon Daeyu’s outsized profits from the project sparked a months-long probe by prosecutors into those suspected of rigging the project’s shareholder composition and profit distribution scheme to favor the previously little-known company, its affiliates and their owners.  
   
However, Yoon was quick to return the fire at Lee, alleging that the recorded conversation also mentioned a “Lee-gate” scandal that the DP candidate had omitted from the transcript he showed debate viewers.  
   
“I believe that recording also includes something about a ‘Lee-gate’ scandal,” Yoon retorted. “Why don’t you show that portion of the conversation, too?”  
   
Yoon’s retort alluded to allegations of corruption by Lee’s former aide and acting president of the Seongnam Development Corporation, Yoo Dong-kyu, during the selection of investment bids for the development in Seongnam, which took off during the DP candidate’s term as mayor of the city.  
   
Yoo has also been indicted on charges of breach of trust and bribery in the case. 

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link, but I think it is pretty obvious that these two despise each other.