Category: Politics-Korea

So does anyone think this bill is intended root out corruption or people that don’t agree with the politics of the Moon administration?:

he ruling Democratic Party (DP) decided Monday to fast-track two bills on establishing a special investigative unit tasked with probing allegations of corruption by high-ranking officials.
Earlier in the day, the minor opposition Bareunmirae Party (BP) proposed a separate bill on limiting the authority of the probe unit and fast-tracking both its bill and a relevant measure proposed by it and three other parties last week.
The National Assembly faces heightened tensions as the DP and three minor parties agreed last week to fast-track four bills linked to electoral reform and the establishment of a unit to investigate alleged corruption by high-ranking government and public officials. (………)

The BP bill calls for setting up a panel to review the appropriateness of charges filed by the probe unit, a tool aimed at preventing it from wielding excessive authority for indictment. Under the four parties’ deal, the unit will be able to indict only judges, prosecutors and high-ranking police officers, an institutional tool that can keep prosecutors in check.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

This is the largest conservative protest I can remember in quite some time if the 50,000 number is accurate:

The main opposition Liberty Korea Party (LKP) took to the streets Saturday to launch an all-out protest against a joint move by ruling and other rival political parties to fast-track key bills, including an electoral reform.
LKP legislators and party members, wearing red T-shirts with the message, “We will fight till the end” written on them, gathered in central Seoul’s Gwanghwamun Square for the demonstration.
The LKP put the estimate of attendees at Saturday’s rally at 50,000. 
LKP leader Hwang Kyo-ahn took the podium and made a resounding speech lashing out at the liberal Moon Jae-in government and the ruling Democratic Party (DP) as those who “try to use the fast-track to their own advantage” so as to gain an upper hand in next year’s parliamentary elections. 
“We’re waging a fair struggle so as to derail this barbaric fast-track action,” he said.
LKP floor leader Na Kyung-won also had her turn at the podium, condemning the move as “an act by the leftists that gravely undermines parliamentary democracy and the Constitution.”

“The leftists are trying to wipe out this country’s free democracy. They have humiliated the National Assembly that represents our people,” she shouted. “The electoral (reform) bill is a tool they need to extend their terms in power for as long as they want.”
Four parties, not including the LKP, agreed Monday to a package deal to fast-track bills on electoral reform, the establishment of a special unit to investigate alleged corruption by high-ranking public officials and enhancement of the police’s authority to conduct probes.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but if the 50,000 number is true the conservative protests are getting larger, but I believe that only if they get over 100,000 does it mean that the general South Korean public is turning on the Moon administration.

South Korea’s conservatives are going to need much more than a 20,000 person protest to stop President Moon’s pro-North Korea policies. By Korean standards this is a small to medium size protest. If they get over a 100,000 than I think they would really send a message to the Blue House:

The main opposition Liberty Korea Party (LKP) on Saturday held a massive rally in Seoul to protest President Moon Jae-in’s personnel appointments.

In the rally held at Gwanghwamun Square in central Seoul, LKP lawmakers and party members also strongly criticized the Moon government’s major economic and diplomatic policies.

LKP Chairman Hwang Kyo-ahn and Floor Leader Na Kyung-won blasted the Moon government’s North Korea policies, calling Moon a spokesman of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and Moon’s government a pro-North Korea government.

The party chief then declared a war against the Moon government to stop its leftist dictatorship.

The party estimated about 20-thousand people participated in the rally.

KBS World Radio

I am really not surprised at all by this decline, it was actually very predictable considering his economic and North Korea policies had little chance of ever working:

President Moon Jae-in’s approval rating has hit the lowest level of his presidency while his disapproval rating reached its highest point, according to a Gallup Korea poll released on Friday.

According to the weekly poll, Moon’s approval rating was 41 percent and 49 percent gave negative responses to Moon’s performance. 

Moon’s approval rating, which skyrocketed in his early months of the presidency, has now dropped to the level of the share of votes he won in the presidential election two years ago. Moon has lost additional supporters, mostly moderates, that he had attracted since he first took office.

Moon started his presidency in May 2017 with an over 80 percent approval rating and maintained strong figures throughout his first year. In May 2018, shortly after Moon’s first summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, his approval rating was 83 percent, according to Gallup Korea.

Joong Ang Ilbo

Keep in mind that President Moon’s approval rating dropped to 41% even though he forcibly took control of most of the major media in South Korea and has been imprisoning opposition journalists.

Another ruling party and Moon administration official caught up in a scandal:

A real estate investment by presidential spokesman Kim Eui-kyeom has prompted accusations that he is guilty of real estate speculation – which the administration has done its best to crack down on.

On Thursday, the Government Ethics Committee’s Public Service Ethics Program released this year’s report on assets of senior public servants, including Blue House aides and cabinet ministers. According to the report, Kim purchased a building in Heukseok-dong, southern Seoul’s Dongjak District, for 2.57 billion won ($2.26 million won) last July, just weeks before the government announced strong antispeculation measures that applied to that neighborhood. 

“Throughout the morning meeting, we discussed concerns over Kim’s purchase,” an official of the Blue House told the JoongAng Ilbo on Thursday. “We wonder if the public will accept the fact that he borrowed 1.6 billion won to make an investment in a redevelopment zone when the government was strongly pushing its policy to stabilize the real estate market.” 

To purchase the building, Kim borrowed over 1.02 billion won from Kookmin Bank. He borrowed another 360 million won from individuals. In total, he took out over 1.6 billion won in loans to purchase the building.

The property is located inside the Heukseok 9 redevelopment district, one of the hottest redevelopment projects in Seoul. Lotte Engineering and Construction will redevelop the area to build 11 buildings that will house 1,536 apartments under the name Heukseok Signature Castle. A realtor in the neighborhood said the project is considered to be highly profitable to investors depending on when they got in. (…..)

“It is common sense among ordinary people that you shouldn’t take out a huge loan and invest unless you are certain that the building will soon be redeveloped,” said another Blue House official. “If accusations are made that Kim used information he obtained as the presidential spokesman and made the investment, the situation can be uncontrollable.”

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link.

The fact that former President Lee Myung-bak has been released on bail after being in jail for a year makes me wonder if judges are now more willing to go against the Moon administration dues its increasing unpopularity with the Korean public?:

Former President Lee Myung-bak was released on bail Wednesday after almost one year of detention on corruption charges.
Lee, president from 2008-2013, was sentenced by a lower court in October to 15 years in prison on conviction of bribery and embezzlement. He appealed the decision. 
The Seoul High Court approved the bail request that Lee made on Jan. 29 on the grounds of deteriorating health and other reasons. 
For the 1 billion won (US$886,130) bail, the court ordered him to stay in his registered residence and meet or communicate only with his immediate family members and legal representatives. Lee accepted the conditions.
Lee also requires court approval for hospital visits and must report his return to the court. Submission of logs on daily activities is also part of the requirements.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but it is going to be interesting to see what happens with Lee Myung-bak’s appeal case.

Just another example that South Korea does not have freedom of speech, especially when the ruling party is looking for anything to deflect attention from their various scandals:

 The ruling Democratic Party (DP) and three rival parties said Monday they will seek to punish three lawmakers of the main opposition party over their controversial comments allegedly disparaging a 1980 pro-democracy uprising.
The four parties said they will file a petition against three Liberty Korea Party (LKP) lawmakers with the parliamentary special committee on ethics on Tuesday over their conduct with the goal of stripping them of their parliamentary seats.
Representatives Kim Jin-tae, Lee Jong-myeong and Kim Soon-rye have come under fire for holding a public hearing last week, inviting a far-right figure who has claimed that North Korean troops were involved in the pro-democracy uprising in the southwestern city of Gwangju in 1980.
Two of them also made controversial remarks allegedly disparaging the democracy movement, with one claiming that a riot was turned into a pro-democracy uprising by people with political purposes.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Dr. Tara O has an article published over at the East Asia Research Council that digs into the Sohn Hye-won Real Estate Scandal. ROK Heads may remember that Sohn is the ruling party parliament member who used insider knowledge to benefit financially in real estate transactions in Mokpo.

Sohn’s supporters ask what is wrong with her buying properties and making a profit?  Buying properties and making profit is normal under free market capitalism. What is wrong, and illegal, is benefiting from privileged insider information, the abuse of authority, and using false names to purchase properties.

1.  Sohn Hye-won is on the National Assembly’s Culture and Tourism Committee (국회 문화체육관광위) as the ruling party’s assistant administrator.  As such, she had access to information about which areas would be designated as “cultural heritage” zones. She also has influence on which areas may receive the designation.  Such a designation usually increases the value of properties in the zone. Using insider knowledge to gain in itself is illegal, but it also is an abuse of her position and authority. (…….)

Using another person’s name to buy property, open a bank account, or otherwise conduct transactions in another person’s name are illegal in South Korea.  It is even worse when a lawmaker breaks the law.

Regarding the property that is in the name of Sohn Hye-won’s nephew (her younger brother’s son), the nephew did not even know there was a property under his name, according to the Kakaotalk chat between him and his mother.  It stated “I invested in a property?  A mere 23 year old conscript in the military?  I don’t know anything about real estate. I supposedly invested in real estate?  Me? It was given to me?” He was serving in the military at that time and only found out when the news broke.

East Asia Research Council

I have always found it interesting how the Moon administration is busy throwing every conservative or even liberal rivals into jail, but for some reason are not going after Sohn.

So what leverage does she have that they are not going after her?

Well Dr. O has found out that Sohn is close friends with Moon Jae-in’s wife Kim Jung-sook since they went to high school together. This close connection led the Moon administration to give the National Medal of the Order of Merit for National Foundation to Sohn’s deceased father in 2017.

Sohn’s father served in the Communist Youth League opposed to the Republic of Korea, but regardless was recognized by President Moon with the medal. This is more than a medal though, recipients and their family members receive a large financial stipend from the government:

This designation not only offers a recognition and national gratitude, but also allows Sohn Yong-woo’s wife to receive 1,518,000 won (~$1,400) per month plus other benefits from the government.  It also provides  1,483,000 won ($1,325) per month and other benefits, such as priority in housing, education, and government jobs, to the family members other than the spouse, which includes Sohn Hye-won and her five siblings plus all of their respective children (Sohn Yong-woo’s children and grandchildren). 

You can read much, much more at the link, but what else I found of interest is that Sohn owns a powerful marketing company. It makes me wonder how involved this marketing company was in creating the many false narratives used to take down former President Park Geun-hye and promote President Moon?

These are some pretty serious allegations being hurled at President Moon about his daughter:

The ruling Democratic Party on Wednesday urged an opposition lawmaker to apologize to President Moon Jae-in for claiming that his daughter and her family may have moved abroad because they were dissatisfied with Korea’s economy or education system. 

The main conservative Liberty Korea Party (LKP) refused to back down, saying the Blue House has yet to respond to its lawmaker’s open inquiry asking why Moon’s daughter left the country.

The tit-for-tat began Tuesday when LKP Rep. Kwak Sang-do, during an LKP internal meeting, disclosed paper documents he said were submitted by Moon’s daughter to her son’s elementary school on July 11, 2018, which indicated that the family was going to move abroad. 

Kwak, a former prosecutor, said he found out that Moon’s grandson, who at the time was a second-grader, is now attending an international school in one of 10 countries that comprise the Association of Southeast Asian Nations: Vietnam, Thailand, Singapore, the Philippines, Myanmar, Malaysia, Laos, Indonesia, Cambodia and Brunei. 

Kwak claimed that a day before Moon’s daughter informed her son’s school about the move overseas, she sold her villa in Jongno District, central Seoul. 

The opposition lawmaker asked the Blue House to reveal how much the Presidential Security Service was spending on protecting Moon’s daughter and her family in a foreign country, noting it would cost more than if they were living in Korea.

Kwak also asked why the family moved abroad, saying that if it were for the child’s education, it would mean the Korean education system had “flaws.” 

If it were due to the parents’ careers, it could mean they were “dissatisfied” with the Korean economy, he continued. 

“The public needs to know about the complaints of the president’s children,” said Kwak.

The LKP lawmaker also took a jab at Moon’s son-in-law, saying “speculation is running rampant” that the government funded 20 billion won ($17.9 million) to a company he worked for, and 3 billion won was allegedly embezzled, so the Blue House told him to leave the country while they settle the case.

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link, but according to this article in the Hankyoreh from a year ago Moon’s daughter does not like being in the spotlight. Her move could have been simply to get away from the media attention in South Korea.

Here is an interesting tidbit about President Moon, he supposedly help fund the creation of the left wing Hankyoreh newspaper back in the 1980’s to help get favorable coverage for himself and former President Roh Moo-hyun:

South Korean President Moon Jae-In was among a group of investors who made large donations in the 1980s to establish the left-wing Hankyoreh Media Group, a report said.
Moon gave 200 million won ($552,000 in 2019 dollars) to the media group, which established the far-left Hankyoreh newspaper in 1987, according to a Jan. 28 report by East Asia Research Center.

The report also noted that Moon was the only one of the original investment group to not be refunded his donation.
Moon “purposely did not get the money back, the only one to refuse to take back the money,” the report said. (…….)

The report said: “In the late 1980s, when Hankyoreh, centered around dismissed journalists from Donga Ilbo andChosun Ilbo, started to raise funds to start a newspaper, [Moon] gave 200,000,000 won without any hesitation.  But at the time, Moon Jae-In, then a lawyer, was not in a position to readily give the 200,000,000 won.  He didn’t have that much money, living in an apartment with 2,000,000 won ($5,520) ‘Jeonse’ [refundable down payment, no monthly rent]. But Moon was determined to make a good press and obtained a loan to make the generous contribution. Thanks to Moon and 20,000 investors, Hankyoreh newspaper raised 5,000,000,000 won ($13.8 million) and printed 500,000 initial copies.”

Song In-Bae, Moon’s longtime associate and current chief personal secretary, was quoted in the report as saying: “Hankyoreh started to return the money to everyone, but there is one person to whom the money was not returned, and that is Moon Jae-In…Hankyoreh wants to return the money, but he still refused to accept.”
Song also stated that Moon gave the money in order for Hankyoreh to establish a branch in Busan, where Moon and Rho Moo-Hyun had their law office and were active politically. Rho, South Korea’s president from 2003-2008, died in 2009.
On April 9, 2017 when Moon was a presidential candidate, he said to a Hankoyreh journalist: “I think Hankyoreh has love for me and my party. I hope you remember that I’m a founding member of Hankyoreh.”

World Tribune

You can read more at the link as well as over at the East Asia Research Center.