Category: Politics-Korea

If anyone is wondering why President Moon is going after Korea’s prosecutorial system here is the supposed reason:

Moon, who once worked as a lawyer, saw the need for an institutional framework to end what he saw as a vicious cycle: The prosecution was used as a tool for “political retaliation” every time a government changed. 

Roh died by suicide in 2009, the year after he completed his term, after prosecutors under conservative President Lee Myung-bak questioned him over bribery allegations. 

“The conflict between the participatory (Roh Moo-hyun) government and the prosecution over the reform resulted in Roh’s tragic death,” Moon wrote in the book. 

Korea Herald

In reality the prosecutors were not responsible for Roh’s death, the corruption surrounding Roh was responsible for his death. Long time ROK Heads may remember that Roh used to go around claiming he was the “cleanest” ROK president ever; essentially attacking past Korean conservative Presidents as being corrupt. When President Lee Myung-bak took over after Roh Presidency ended, he had prosecutors look into Roh’s finances and found corruption involving family members and former aides. Roh had to eventually admit to his part in the corruption:

“I want to make public something in advance,” Roh wrote. “Right now, Chung Sang-moon, former Blue House secretary, is being questioned on charges of receiving money from Park. I am concerned that Chung might have testified that he had actually done so. The accusation should be directed toward us, not Chung.

“My home made the request, received money and used it,” the former president confessed. “We have done so because we still had outstanding debts.” 

Roh wrote that he will cooperate with the prosecution’s investigation and testify concerning details. “I will face legal action in accordance with the case. I apologize again,” he wrote. 

Joong Ang Ilbo

Instead of facing an embarrassing trial for the multiple corruption cases that surrounded him and his family he decided to commit suicide. His suicide effectively made him a martyr to the Korean left and protected his kids from being charged by the prosecutors.

So when President Moon Jae-in took over as President he immediately went after former President Lee for corruption and had him thrown in jail. So it is pretty ironic that Moon claims in his book that the prosecution system needs to be reformed because it gets used for political retaliation when he in fact did the same thing once in power.

Then last week he executed his “Wednesday Night Massacre” to stifle corruption investigations into his administration by Korean prosecutors. His administration also implemented so called “reforms” that will ensure that the current government can continue to cover up internal corruption.

The Korean left now has a new agency to protect their allies from Korean prosecutors and to go after their political enemies with:

The National Assembly passed a bill Monday to create a new agency to investigate senior officials, a top item on President Moon Jae-in’s criminal justice reform agenda. 

The bill, drafted by a Democratic Party (DP) lawmaker and revised by a Justice Party lawmaker, was passed by 159 votes. Of the 176 lawmakers who participated in the vote, 14 opposed it and three abstained.  (…….)

The new agency is the first organization allowed to take over some of the prosecution’s indictment powers. It will investigate crimes allegedly committed by top officials in the administration and judiciary ranging from the president to judges and prosecutors. Lawmakers were excluded from its scope. 

Creating a new investigation agency for senior officials was the top legislative priority for Moon. Ever since taking office in May 2017, Moon, his aides and the DP have tirelessly pushed the initiative – along with other attempts to weaken the prosecution’s powers.  

The idea of a new agency investigating senior officials was first introduced in 2002 during the administration of former President Roh Moo-hyun, Moon’s ideological and political mentor.

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link, but if this new agency was in operation when the Cho Kuk scandal hit does anyone think this Blue House appointed agency would have done much to investigate and indict him and his family for corruption?

Also notice the timing of the passing of this bill, they passed it during the New Year’s Eve holiday period when they knew few Koreans would be paying attention. Additionally remember that Korea is a rule by law country, not a rule of law country.

The only reason the Korean National Assembly would be passing this bill would be to increase the amount of unelected left wing parliament members:

The National Assembly on Friday passed a bill for a new election system for the April general election, despite the main opposition party’s physical blockade. 

A bill to revise the Public Official Election Act, proposed by Rep. Kim Kwan-young of the Bareunmirae Party, was passed shortly after National Assembly Speaker Moon Hee-sang announced the opening of the voting session Friday evening. 

Of the 167 lawmakers who participated in the voting, 156 supported, 10 opposed and one abstained. The ruling Democratic Party (DP) lawmakers and its allies cast votes and endorsed the new election system. 

A plenary session was originally scheduled to open at 3 p.m., but lawmakers of the main opposition Liberty Korea Party (LKP) staged a protest inside the main hall of the National Assembly, effectively delaying the voting. After more than two hours of delay, Speaker Moon invoked his power to maintain order inside the legislature. While the LKP lawmakers resisted by shouting a slogan, “Step down Moon Hee-sang,” the speaker managed to sit in his seat and declared the opening of a session around 5:30 p.m. 

According to the revised election law, the number of single-member constituency seats and proportional representation (PR) seats in the 300-member legislature remain the same at 253 and 47 for the April general election. 

Of the 47 PR seats, 30 are to be apportioned using a new calculation method in which parties that fail to win enough constituency seats that correspond to their nationwide support margin could be compensated with PR seats. Smaller parties would thus be more likely to expand their seat share in the National Assembly, while the two major parties – the DP and LKP – will likely gain fewer proportional representatives.

Joong Ang Ilbo

Here is how much this bill will help the left wing parties secure more parliament seats:

Based on several recent polls, under the new rule the Justice Party would secure 15 seats, adding nine seats from the current number, while the DPK would add six seats and the LKP would lose three.

Currently, the DPK has 129 seats, while the LKP, the Bareunmirae Party and the Justice Party have 108, 28 and six seats, respectively.

Korea Times

So essentially this bill will increase the number of unelected left wing politicians into Parliament. These political parties can’t win elections to increase their parliament numbers so they depend on a proportional representation system to get more of them into office.

Another thing this bill slipped in was the decrease the voting age from 19 to 18. This will add 560,000 new voters for the upcoming April election. Considering that younger people tend to vote for liberal policies this was surely intended to increase the votes for left wing political candidates.

So why is the Korean left doing everything it can to increase its parliament members for the April election? Increasing the amount of left wing parliament members is important for future plans to change the ROK constitution and pave the way for a confederation with North Korea. Another thing to look for is the Korean left pushing for is the ability for President Moon to seek reelection instead of being capped at one five year term in office.

This is all for show because all these people have to do is transfer the real estate to their spouse or other family member. Additionally this does nothing to stop the insider real estate speculation going on by Moon administration allies that don’t work in the Blue House:

The Blue House ordered its high-ranking staff to sell any real estate they weren’t living in.

The announcement, released Monday by Blue House Chief of Staff Noh Young-min, is part of the government’s campaign to cool down real estate prices. 

“Chief of Staff Noh has stressed the need of Blue House high-ranking officials to lead by example,” said Yoon Do-han, Blue House senior secretary for public communication.  

The measure came as more former Blue House staff and top government officials have been accused of real estate profiteering, a cardinal sin for a liberal administration in Korea.  

The civic group Citizens’ Coalition for Economic Justice on Monday claimed that the value of properties owned by officials from the current Blue House has risen an average 300 million won ($256,000) in the last three years.  

The civic group claimed that the value of apartments and “officetels” (units in buildings used for both commercial and residential purposes) owned by 65 incumbent and former Blue House staffers as of January 2017 was valued at 820 million won on average, which rose roughly 40 percent to 1.14 billion won as of last month. 

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link.

This is the Korean version of a filibuster:

Following a violent protest by the main opposition party and its supporters on the premises of the legislature, National Assembly Speaker Moon Hee-sang scrapped a vote Monday on fast-tracked bills. 

“I will not open a plenary session today because it won’t be possible to smoothly operate a session,” Moon said in a statement. “The ruling and opposition parties must reach an agreement on contentious bills, designated as fast-tracked items, as soon as possible.” 

The Liberty Korea Party (LKP) started a rally in front of the National Assembly’s main building around 11 a.m. to criticize the ruling Democratic Party (DP) and its legislative allies for attempting to railroad through bills revising the electoral system and weakening the prosecution’s powers. 

The National Assembly turned into mayhem after a violent scuffle took place between protesters and police at a rally hosted by the LKP. The party’s Chairman Hwang Kyo-ahn, floor leader Rep. Shim Jae-cheol, chief policymaker Rep. Kim Jae-won and other lawmakers attended the rally. Thousands of LKP members and supporters also participated. 

Before the rally started, LKP lawmakers complained that the National Assembly’s security team was restricting entry to the premises. LKP Secretary General Rep. Park Wan-su lodged a formal complaint to National Assembly Secretary General Yoo In-tae, and the legislature decided to open the main gate. 

Thousands of LKP supporters rushed in along with members of conservative groups and ultra-conservatives who support impeached President Park Geun-hye known as the “Taegeukgi Troops,” for the Taegeukgi, or the Korean national flag, they always wave. 

“Your rage will impact the National Assembly,” Hwang told the protesters in encouragement. “You’ve already won a victory.” 

The protesters waved Korean and American flags and shouted slogans such as “Let’s kill Speaker Moon Hee-sang” and “Let’s destroy the National Assembly.” Although the LKP repeatedly told the participants they must not enter the Assembly building, some rushed the doors. As the police tried to block them, violent scuffles took place. The main entrance doors were partially broken in the scuffles. 

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link.

How many corruption cases is Cho Kuk involved in? I am losing count:

– Cho Kuk, former justice minister and presidential secretary, on Monday attended a questioning over bribery allegations involving the former vice mayor of Busan.

Cho appeared at the Seoul Eastern District Prosecutors Office on Monday morning to attend the questioning, the first time he was called in regarding the bribery case.

Cho was the head of the presidential office’s civil affairs division that oversaw a special inspection of the vice mayor’s bribery allegations.

Yoo Jae-soo, Busan’s former vice mayor of economic affairs, was recently indicted for allegedly receiving bribes worth 49.5 million won (US$42,224) during his term at the state financial regulator.

While he was under surveillance by Cheong Wa Dae’s special inspection team in 2017, he avoided punishment for an unknown reason and became Busan’s vice mayor in 2018.

The string of developments raised suspicions that some Cheong Wa Dae officials may have engaged in a cover-up of the bribery case.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

It only makes sense that with a left wing government in power these former convicted spies would seek to have their records purged:

Seven leaders of a now-disbanded left wing party filed for a retrial of a North Korea-affiliated treason case that rattled the nation six years ago, Wednesday, claiming the ruling was rigged by misleading evidence and corrupt ties between the judiciary and the former administration.

Lawyers for former lawmaker Lee Seok-ki and six other former members of the United Progressive Party (UPP) submitted the application for the retrial to the Seoul Central District Court.

The seven were arrested in 2013 on charges of plotting a pro-North Korean rebellion, and were sentenced to jail terms of two to nine years in August 2014 for “inciting” an armed rebellion during two gatherings with dozens of followers in May. Later that year, the Constitutional Court ruled to disband the UPP, saying the small leftist party with five parliamentary seats was a risk to national security due to its “violent” communist motives.

Korea Times via a reader tip

You can read much more at the link.

I always suspected that the claims the NIS made of the spy ring plotting to overthrow the government were exaggerated.  However, this does not explain why Lee Seok-ki was requesting classified documents and then leaking them in an effort to harm the US-ROK alliance.  Why was Lee also trying to get his hands on US-ROK war plans?  As I said before Lee and the UPP are just a political extension of the North Korean stooges in the Korean left that inhabit organization such as the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions and the Korea Teacher’s Union.

These organizations have long been pro-North Korean and anti-US.  That is why I said this whole UPP spy scandal is just a continuation of the Ilshimhoe Spy Scandal and not some new organization trying to overthrow the government.  These groups coordinate with North Korea in order to cause political and social unrest within South Korea.  That is why I said at the time that the UPP should not be banned in South Korea.  By having the UPP all the pro-North Korean politicians all in one party and you know who they are.