Koreans will be waking up with Moon Jae-in as their new President:
Moon Jae-in, the presidential candidate of the liberal Democratic Party, speaks to his supporters and party officials at the National Assembly after an exit poll showed him set to win South Korea’s presidential election held May 9, 2017. (Yonhap)
Moon was estimated to have garnered 41.4 percent of all votes, according to the exit poll conducted by three major local broadcasters — MBC, KBS and SBS.
The front-runner was followed by Hong Joon-pyo of the conservative Liberty Korea Party with 23.3 percent.
The outcome of the exit poll was announced as the one-day voting came to an end at 8 p.m.
Apparently seeing no possibility of the actual outcome of the vote being any different from the exit poll, Moon said his election, if confirmed, would mark the people’s and the party’s victory. [Yonhap]
What surprised me about this election was how far the software mogul and populist candidate Ahn Cheol-soo dropped by getting 21% of the vote when at one point in the campaign it appeared he was challenging Moon Jae-in’s polling numbers. Something else surprising is how well the conservative candidate Hong Joon-pyo did considering the drag that the scandal plagued former President Park Geun-hye created for conservative candidates.
I think what this means that instead of conservative voters rallying around Ahn Cheol-soo to deny Moon an election victory, they instead voted for Hong. Hong and Ahn’s numbers together would have been enough to defeat Moon.
Here is what Moon Jae-in had to say about his election victory:
Seemingly moved by the overwhelming support, he threw his hands up to the sky and gave his symbolic thumbs-up gesture, prompting thunderous applause from party members and supporters there.
“This crushing victory was expected and is a victory of longing,” Moon told jubilant party members. “‘I will achieve reform and national unity, the two missions that our people long for.”
He went on: “The results will come in hours, but I truly believe that today is the day that opens the gateway to a new Korea. I will embody the public’s passion. Your sweat and tears will never be forgotten within me.” [Korea Times]
I am not sure what the new Korea is going to look like, but everyone will find out over the course of the next five years of Moon Jae-in’s presidency.
It looks like TIME magazine has declared Moon Jae-in the winner of the upcoming ROK Presidential election already:
Appearing on the cover of the U.S. magazine TIME is sometimes more than just being a cover model — especially before important political events.
The news magazine used to wrap its front cover with a staged portrait of the most likely new leader of a country before his/her formal election (or victory by any means). And in recent memory, there was no case denying the accuracy of its model-winner matchup.
Four years ago, TIME bet on Park Geun-hye, not knowing that she — described as the Strongman’s Daughter in its cover story — would defeat Moon by a very narrow margin.
On Thursday, Moon appeared on the cover of TIME’s Asian edition, which indicates that the magazine firmly believes he will be South Korea’s next leader, replacing the ousted Park Geun-hye, when the presidential election is held on May 9.
The photo shows Moon glaring forward with his lips shut tightly -– somewhat resolutely –- against a black backdrop, under the headline “The Negotiator.”
The story covers Moon’s life, from a front-line commando who put his life on the line in 1976 for a deadly mission in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), to his family background, the time he served as a human rights lawyer, political philosophy (especially on North Korea and the United States) and how he made his way toward the nation’s top job.
Moon told TIME that his destiny is to bring the two Koreas closer together after seven decades being apart. [Korea Times]
So what else does North Korea have to do to the ROK to gain primary enemy status?:
Yoo: “Is North Korea our primary enemy?”
Moon: “Such a designation must not be made by president. If you become president, Mr. Yoo, you yourself would also have to solve inter-Korean problems.”
Yoo: “This is nonsense the commander in chief cannot call North Korea our primary enemy.”
Bareun Party candidate Yoo Seong-min asked Democratic Party’s Moon Jae-in if North Korea is the primary enemy.
Moon responded that presidents should not label the North as such as the job requires solving inter-Korean problems.
As Moon avoided answering the question, Yoo said it was nonsense that a candidate for commander in chief cannot identify North Korea as an enemy. [KBS World Radio]
To counter charges by opponents that he is pro-NK ("jongbook"), Moon Jae-In started highlighting his service in special operations. pic.twitter.com/nUKGQwz6cq
In this Washington Post interview the likely next President of South Korea, Moon Jae-in states that he is not too happy with the deployment of the THAAD missile defense system before he becomes President:
With Moon pledging to review the Park government’s decision to deploy the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) antimissile system, the U.S. military has acted swiftly to get it up and running. This has sparked widespread criticism here that the United States is trying to make it difficult, if not impossible, for Moon to reverse it.
The final components for THAAD were taken to the site in the middle of the night last week, triggering protests, and the system became operational Monday. It is designed to shoot down North Korean missiles, but many in South Korea fear it will make them more of a target.
“It is not desirable for the [caretaker] South Korean government to deploy THAAD hastily at this politically sensitive time, with the presidential election approaching, and without going through the democratic process, an environmental assessment or a public hearing,” said Moon, sitting on the floor in a Korean restaurant after an evening rally in Seongnam, south of Seoul.
“Would it happen this way in the United States? Could the administration make a unilateral decision without following democratic procedures, without ratification or agreement by Congress?”
Privately, Moon aides say they are “furious” about what they see as the expedited installation of THAAD. U.S. Forces Korea said the deployment is in line with plans to have the system operational as soon as possible. [Washington Post]
You can read more at the link, but the US President makes decisions all the time without ratification or agreement by Congress.
I could have just as easily titled this posting as being “Moon Jae-in Vows To Help North Korea Build Nuclear Weapons and Missiles” because that is what the Sunshine Policy allowed North Korea to do:
Moon Jae-in, the Democratic Party’s presidential candidate, holds a press conference at the National Assembly in Seoul on April 23, 2017, announcing a set of security and North Korean policies. (Yonhap)
Moon pledged that South Korea will play a bigger role in efforts to denuclearize the North and push for denuclearization based on simultaneous actions by stakeholders instead of demanding the North first show its resolve to give up atomic weapons.
The front-runner candidate said he will carry out former President Kim Dae-jung’s “Sunshine Policy” to engage with the North to ultimately persuade Pyongyang to change. [Yonhap]
I wonder what Moon means by simultaneous actions? Is that code for giving North Korea billions of dollars in aid for them to pretend they are not building nuclear weapons and missiles and then have them tear up the deal at a time of their choosing, launch provocations, and then demand a new deal? That is what historically the Sunshine Policy has been.
A former top diplomat on Friday disclosed a document to back up his claim that Seoul officials consulted North Korea before a key U.N. vote in 2007. It added fuel to a political fire that has engulfed presidential front-runner Moon Jae-in, who was then a chief presidential aide.
In October, Song Min-soon published a memoir in which he said that South Korea abstained in a vote for the 2007 U.N. resolution on North Korea’s human rights violations after discussing the issue with Pyongyang officials.
Song served as the foreign minister from 2006 to 2008 in the liberal Roh Moo-hyun government.
Moon, who was the presidential chief of staff and involved in the decision, has claimed Song’s allegation is not true.
In an interview with the JoongAng Ilbo daily, Song disclosed the document he alleged was made by the then-presidential office based on secret communications with the North. [Yonhap]
You can read more at the link, but long time ROK Heads may remember that the Roh Moo-hyun years were when the South Korean government was actually giving more money to North Korea to help them build nuclear weapons and missiles then for the upkeep of the US-ROK alliance.
According to the article Park is accused of taking and soliciting bribes. Have the prosecutors finally found hard evidence that she actually took money because we have not seen it yet?:
Former President Park Geun-hye arrives at a detention center in Uiwang, south of Seoul, in a car on March 31, 2017, after a court issued a warrant to arrest her in connection with a corruption scandal that led to her removal from office. (Yonhap)
South Korean prosecutors indicted jailed former President Park Geun-hye Monday as they wrapped up a six-month probe into the corruption and influence-peddling scandal that brought her down last month.
Park has been charged with bribery, abuse of power, coercion and leaking government secrets in 18 suspected crimes, mostly involving her long-time friend Choi Soon-sil and former key aides.
Park became the country’s third former president to stand trial over corruption allegations, after Chun Doo-hwan and Roh Tae-woo.
In the indictment, the prosecutors accused Park of taking and soliciting bribes worth 59.2 billion won ($52 million) from three conglomerates — Samsung, Lotte and SK — for herself or her friend. [Yonhap]
You can read more at the link, but Park is facing 10 years in jail if convicted.
