Category: Politics-Korea

This is all the more reason why the ruling party is trying to take out Yoon Seok-youl, he is getting too popular with the Korean public for his anti-corruption stances:

Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-youl has become a leading prospective candidate of the opposition for the 2022 presidential election, with his favorability rate rising and exceeding other potential contenders.

Some members of the opposition parties say Yoon’s rise will help them get a fresh and strong presidential candidate. But others say Yoon’s presence is disrupting the conservative bloc as other potential candidates are not receiving attention and are being overshadowed by him. 

The legitimacy of Yoon’s candidacy for the conservatives is also in question as he has led investigations into corruption scandals involving former Presidents Lee Myung-bak and Park Geun-hye.

According to a survey conducted on 1,032 adults by local pollster RnSearch from Oct. 25 to 26, Yoon had a support rate of 15.1 percent, behind two candidates of the ruling party ― Gyeonggi Governor Lee Jae-myung with 22.8 percent, and ruling Democratic Party of Korea Chairman Lee Nak-yon with 21.6 percent.

Although he came in third, the support for Yoon is considerably higher than those for other prospective candidates of the opposition ― Rep. Hong Joon-pyo, former head of the Liberty Korea Party, a predecessor of the current main opposition People Power Party (PPP), who gained 6.8 percent, and Ahn Cheol-soo, leader of the minor opposition People’s Party, at 5.8 percent.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

The payback from the Korean left against former President Lee Myung-bak is now complete:

The Supreme Court on Thursday upheld a 17-year prison sentence handed down by an appeals court for former President Lee Myung-bak on embezzlement and bribery charges.

In February, the Seoul High Court sentenced the 78-year-old to 17 years in prison, a fine of 13 billion won (US$10.9 million) and a forfeit of 5.7 billion won in a high-profile corruption case.

The former president, who governed the country from 2008-2013, was charged in April 2018 with 16 counts of criminal allegations, including embezzlement in connection with the auto parts company DAS and receiving bribes from various companies and individuals, including Samsung Electronics Co.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but President Lee after he took office had his predecessor Roh Moo-hyun investigated for corruption. Roh ended up committing suicide after the investigation disclosed the corrupt dealings of him and his family. The Korean left blamed Lee for Roh’s suicide and one of the first things after current left wing President Moon Jae-in did was to investigate Lee for corruption. Moon was the former Chief of Staff for President Roh at the time.

Anyone following the corruption allegations against Cho Kuk and his family should find none of this news surprising:

A former presidential secretary in charge of anticorruption has made a series of statements that Cho Kuk, a former justice minister and senior secretary for civil affairs in President Moon Jae-in’s administration, abused his power to shut down a probe into one of the president’s political allies.  
   
Park Hyoung-chul offered the testimony Friday during a Seoul Central District Court trial in which he and two others — Cho and Baek Won-woo, former presidential secretary for civil affairs — are all charged with abuse of power.  
   
Testifying during the seventh session of their trial, Park said that Cho had ordered him to shut down the Blue House’s audit into corruption allegations against Yoo Jae-soo, a former public servant and a political ally of Moon.    
   
Park said the December 2017 audit indicated that Yoo, who was serving as the financial policy director of the Financial Services Commission, had received bribes. Park said his office wanted to continue the investigation or send the case to the investigative authorities, such as the Board of Audit and Inspection, but Cho decided to shut it down. 

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link, but at this point with Moon’s ally Choo Mi-ae installed as the Justice Minister, Cho Kuk is now pretty much protected from being prosecuted for any crimes.

It appears that the Korean left is going all in to get Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-youl resign:

The gaping political rift between Justice Minister Choo Mi-ae and Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-youl widened further Monday, as the minister accused the top prosecutor of overstepping his bounds during a parliamentary audit of the Supreme Prosecutors Office held last week.

“For the prosecutor general who must maintain political neutrality, I believe some of his statements crossed the line. As a person in the supervisory position, I’m embarrassed,” said Choo during a parliamentary audit of the justice ministry held at the National Assembly.

Last week, Choo ordered the top prosecutor to recuse himself from the investigation into the high-profile financial fraud case surrounding Lime Asset Management, citing a failure on the part of Yoon to conduct a thorough investigation into opposition politicians and prosecutors allegedly implicated in the case.

Yoon instantly accepted the order but described it as “illegal” and “absurd” during a parliamentary audit session Thursday. He also claimed that President Moon Jae-in asked him to serve out his term via an “appropriate messenger” despite pressure from the ruling bloc for him to resign.

Yonhap

The article goes on to say how the Justice Minister is expanding her attempts to go after Yoon’s wife:

The prosecution is also currently looking into allegations that Yoon’s wife was involved in manipulating stocks in Deutsch Motors and that her art exhibition company took bribes disguised as donations.

What is incredible about this whole political strife is that President Moon is the one who appointed Yoon as the Prosecutor General to be a fair arbiter of justice. That is exactly what Yoon did when he decided to prosecute Moon’s BFF Cho Kuk for the corrupt activities that him and his family were involved in.

Everything that has been happening since then has been payback to try and get Yoon to resign which he has refused to do. Remember this is not the first time the Moon administration has been willing to go after someone’s wife to get their way.

The Moon administration has been trying to find ways to get Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-youl to resign since he will not go along with covering for corrupt ruling party politicians. This could be another attempt to pressure him to quit by going after his wife:

Justice Minister Choo Mi-ae ordered the nation’s top prosecutor on Monday to take his hands off the ongoing investigations into a high-profile fund scandal in a move she claims is intended to ensure a “fair” and “independent” probe into those cases.

The unusual order came a day after the justice ministry raised speculation that Prosecutor-General Yoon Seok-youl failed to conduct a thorough investigation into opposition politicians and prosecutors allegedly implicated in the case.

“It is necessary to guarantee a fair and independent investigation into the Lime case and the case involving the prosecutor-general’s family,” Choo said, directing the Seoul Central District Prosecutors Office and the Seoul Southern District Prosecutors Office to not follow Yoon’s orders and only report the results of the investigations to him.

Lime Asset Management Co. is suspected of covering up massive losses and subsequently suspending fund redemption worth an estimated 1.6 trillion won (US$1.39 billion).

Kim Bong-hyun, a key suspect in the case, has alleged that he bribed a former senior aide to President Moon Jae-in, and also lobbied influential opposition politicians and incumbent prosecutors.

“The possibility of the prosecutor-general’s involvement in determining the truth behind the Lime case cannot be completely removed,” Choo said.

The Supreme Prosecutors Office (SPO) responded in a statement that Yoon has “become unable” to orchestrate the investigation into the Lime case.

On the case involving his family, the SPO said Yoon was never involved or briefed on the investigation and therefore had no comment to make.

The prosecution is looking into allegations that Yoon’s wife was involved in manipulating stocks in Deutsch Motors and that her company took bribes disguised as donations.

Choo’s directive calls on the Seoul Southern District Prosecutors Office to remove a prosecutor and investigator from the team in charge of the Lime case following allegations they were lobbied by Kim.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but the people now running the investigation are all allies of Choo Mi-ae, so it is pretty clear how this “investigation” against Yoon’s wife will turn out.

Always remember that Korea is a rule by law country and not a rule of law country.

No apology will ever make the Korean left happy on this issue. Just like with the comfort women issue, they need to keep this issue alive to bash their political enemies with. So in the grand scheme of things this apology is meaningless to the Korean left:

Army Chief of Staff Gen. Nam Yeong-shin apologized Friday for the military’s brutal crackdown on protestors during a 1980 pro-democracy uprising in the southwestern city of Gwangju, vowing to fully cooperate with an ongoing probe into the case. 

This is the first time in 40 years that an Army chief officially apologized for the bloody incident.

“I believe that the military’s involvement in the May 18 Democratization Movement is gravely wrong,” Nam said during a parliamentary audit of the Army on Friday. “I’d like to offer a sincere apology to victims and bereaved families.”

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

This is another example of how Korea’s libel laws are used to attack people for political reasons. In this example they were used by the Moon administration to attack a liberal political rival for the Presidency. The fact that the verdict has now been overturned is likely a sign that a deal has been struck that Lee will be the next Presidential candidate for the Korean left:

 Gyeonggi Gov. Lee Jae-myung was acquitted on Friday of violating election law, winning a high-profile retrial that could have cost him his governorship. 

The Suwon High Court overturned its previous verdict and found him not guilty of spreading false information during televised debate shows in the runup to the 2018 local elections. 

In July, the Supreme Court remanded the case to the appeals court in a ruling that said Lee should not be punished for what he said during the debates, as they were not intended to deliberately disseminate misinformation.

“It is more important to guarantee freedom of expression (during a debate) to offer (debaters) room, free of legal responsibilities,” Chief Justice Kim Myung-soo said while delivering the livestreamed verdict, adding that it is impossible to hold a politician accountable for every inaccurate expression he or she makes.

In the retrial, the court echoed the view of the highest court, saying that Lee’s comments during the debates were no more than “answers to the questions” from a rival debater and that they were not seen as deliberate acts of disseminating false information, even if they might sound evasive and defensive.

You can read more at the link, but the libel laws were also used to go after his wife as well for posting supposed false information on Twitter. She was previously cleared of the allegations as well. Could you imagine if in the U.S. politicians and their supporters could be charged for libel for giving false information on Twitter and during debates? We would have no politicians left. 

Anyway this is just an example of how clever and ruthless the Moon administration was to win the Presidency. ROK Heads may also remember that they got Ban Ki-moon to drop out of the race by using what he called deliberate “fake news” against him. With Ban and Lee out of the race Moon then had a clear path to the Presidency after former President Park’s impeachment.

The Democratic Party of Korea appears to really be enjoying the crackdown on their conservative critics:

Lee Nak-yon, the head of the ruling Democratic Party, said in a Facebook post Saturday that the police should work to prevent rallies planned for Hangeul Day, which falls Oct. 9. He thanked law enforcement for almost perfectly preventing illegal protests on Oct. 3.

“We are somewhat relieved at the moment, but some organizations have announced plans for more rallies on Hangeul Day,” Lee wrote, adding that preventing mass gatherings will help the country stay clear of the virus and shore up its struggling economy.

“Whatever the reason may be, illegal gatherings and deterring virus control measures are by no means acceptable. I hope the police do the same and block illegal rallies on Hangeul Day while preventing potential danger.”

Korea Herald

You can read more at the link, but it is clear they plan to use the coronavirus as an excuse to stop anti-government rallies for as long as possible.

ROK Drop favorite Dr. Tara O has a good article on how the Moon administration is busy arresting conservative leaders and threatening more arrests if a car parade is held over the upcoming holiday weekend in Seoul:

On September 28, 2020, the government arrested Kim Kyung-jae (김경재), former President of the Korea Freedom Federation (한국자유총연맹), and Kim Soo-yeol (김수열), the head of IlpaManpa Patriots Alliance or IlpaManpa (일파만파) for short.  The two were arrested and jailed for alleged conspiracy to hold an “illegal” assembly on August 15, 2020, Liberation Day.  IlpaManpa’s members are mostly military veterans, especially Korean Military Academy alumni.

On September 23, 2020, the Jongno District Police Department in Seoul applied for an arrest warrant against Kim Kykung-jae and Kim Soo-yeo on charges of violating the Assembly and Demonstration Act and the Infectious Disease Prevention Act. (…………)

Kim said, “We must express our anger over the evil acts and faults of the Moon Jae-in regime, even during the Corona-19 outbreak.”  “The only way to express our mind without getting caught in the Coronavirus trap that has been laid by the government is the car parade method, which is getting more attention recently.”  They opposed the assembly ban notice issued by the police and again filed a lawsuit for suspension of execution at the Seoul Administrative Court.

On September 25, 2020, The Chief of National Police Agency Kim Chang-ryong (김창룡) instructed the police to “take full action against the assembly,” including checkpoints to block entry, on site arrests, fines, license cancellation, and car towing.  The Police Chief refers to rallies, even with the cars as “illegal,” but had not explained how rallying inside cars spread Coronavirus nor did he provide scientific evidence for such a claim.

East Asia Research Center

As always make sure to read the whole article at the link.

Isn’t amazing how subways, amusement parks, and anti-US protests don’t spread coronavirus but conservative rallies and even car parades do?