I think at this point President Moon is not going to replace his allegedly corrupt Justice Minister no matter how low his poll numbers drop:
President Moon Jae-in’s approval rating has declined to 44.4 percent amid political turmoil over his justice minister, coupled with news reports of deepening economic woes and North Korea’s firing of a submarine-based ballistic missile, a local pollster said Monday.
According to Realmeter, the rating hit the lowest in its weekly survey since the president took office in May 2017.
Commissioned by a cable news channel YTN, Realmeter conducted a phone survey of 2,007 people nationwide, aged 19 or older, throughout last week, except for the National Foundation Holiday that fell Thursday. The margin of error is plus or minus 2.2 percentage points.
Yonhap
You can read more at the link.
It would be interesting to know what was said on this phone call because it definitely has the appearance of interfering with an ongoing investigation:
The president’s message followed a disclosure that the minister made a phone call to the head of the prosecution team when prosecutors raided his house for investigation into the scandal on Monday.
A lawmaker with the main opposition Liberty Korea Party (LKP) raised the issue during a parliamentary interpellation session Thursday and Cho admitted that he had such a phone conversation.
The minister said it was not intended to affect the team’s field operation, and that he just asked for help in getting his wife to relax.
The LKP claimed that Cho deserves impeachment for the phone call itself as he was apparently abusing his power as justice minister.
Yonhap
You can read more at the link.
You know you're in Korea when there's a K-pop concert with #NCTDREAM on stage, surrounded by "Free Park Geun-hye / Get rid of commies + Moon Jae-in + Cho Kuk" rally. It's a sound check, but still. LOL! #엔시티드림 pic.twitter.com/4ikZmfPswJ
— Raphael Rashid (@koryodynasty) September 28, 2019
1/
— bmk218 (@bmk218) September 23, 2019
As we have expected last year, the current pro-NK jusapa govt is at the tipping point. These lawless Jucheist ppl are collapsing by their corruption cases. There are still a lot more to come. Cho Kuk is a breaking point of Moon govt. https://t.co/RUNak8yoS6
It seems to me that whatever evidence that would have existed would have been long removed from the house by now:
The prosecution raided the residence of Justice Minister Cho Kuk on Monday as part of a widening probe into corruption allegations involving his family, including suspected forgery by his wife.
State prosecutors are looking into allegations that Cho’s wife forged a college presidential citation to help her daughter enroll in a medical school. Cho’s wife was indicted on those charges early this month.
Investigators were sent to his house earlier in the day to collect computer hard drives and documents.
The prosecution is probing suspicions that his wife, a professor surnamed Chung, may have sought to destroy evidence linked to the alleged forgery and Cho may have aided and abetted such acts.
Yonhap
You can read more at the link.
Hope the prosecutors investigating the case is aware of the sanctions due dilligence requirements. Will Cho Kuk say one of his favorite answers–"I didn't know?" Then he's likely admitting to the lack of due diligence. https://t.co/n9dCVscWSH
— Tara O (@DrTaraO) September 20, 2019
ROK Drop favorite Dr. Tara O has the latest news on yet another scandal involving family members of Justice Minister Cho Kuk:
Cho Kuk’s wife also lent her brother Jeong Kwang-bo ₩300 million ($262,000) on February 28, 2017, after which Jeong Kwang-bo bought 250 shares of Co-Link Private Equity worth ₩500 million ($345,000) on March 9, 2017. Co-Link and China’s Jiangsu Province Huakun Science and Technology Development (public) Corporation (장쑤성 화군과학기술발전유한공사와) also signed an agreement on April 28, 2016 to invest ₩600 billion ($525 million) in Co-Link.
Jeong Kwang-bo, was also the managing director of Bona Systems Company [(주)보나시스템]. One of Bona Systems’ subsidiaries is Dongchin Shipping (동친해운), which is suspected of being involved in transporting North Korean coal.
East Asia Research Center
You can read much more at the link, but Cho Kuk I would think would just claim he did not know about this and push the blame on his family members. Even if he didn’t know about this could these family members think they can get away with such schemes simply because of Cho Kuk’s connections to the Blue House?
Finally could you imagine how apocalyptic the Korean left would be if former President Park Geun-hye had closer advisors involved in scandals like this?
40% is still high for "low approval." Most politicians would kill for such numbers. But I'm convinced that Moon's popularity is still so high only because there isn't a single politician whom voters can point to and say, "He/She is a much better choice." https://t.co/euTXcop2hF
— John Lee (The Korean Foreigner) (@koreanforeigner) September 20, 2019
It would be interesting to see what accomplishments President Moon thinks should be enshrined in his own multi-million dollar library:
The government until a few days ago planned to spend W17.2 billion in taxpayers’ money to build a library dedicated to the life and career of Moon Jae-in in Busan once the president leaves office (US$1=W1,192). It would be the first of its kind paid for with taxpayers’ money. So far the country has been content to store documents and other materials related to all previous presidents in a library in Sejong administrative city that opened in 2016. There is a separate library and museum dedicated to Kim Dae-jung, a vastly more distinguished figure than the incumbent, but it was paid for with his Nobel Peace Prize money.
Moon’s own library was to be built on a sprawling 5,000 sq.m plot of land in the southern port city. The existing library in Sejong employs 64 staff, yet the government will have to hire more than 20 staff just to look after the Moon collection. The Moon administration is starting to behave as if it is on a mission to empty the government’s coffers over ever less useful projects.
Chosun Ilbo
You can read more at the link.
