Category: Politics-Korea

The bodies were not even cold yet from the Itaewon Crushing Disaster before the political opposition decided to use them to demand the President and other government officials resign:

Only a few hours after the news broke last month about a deadly crowd crush in central Seoul’s Itaewon, Nam Young-hee, vice chief of the Institute for Democracy, a think tank of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), concluded that President Yoon Suk-yeol and his safety minister were to blame and demanded they step down immediately.

The comment, which she made when police and emergency workers were still scrambling to gather the facts, was a grim sign of how the tragic incident, which killed 156 people and injured 197 others, could be used ― and exploited ― politically.

Two days after the end of a national mourning period for the victims and their families, Rep. Lee Jae-myung, leader of the DPK, called for the resignations of all relevant top officials, including Prime Minister Han Duck-soo.

“The president, who is responsible for this disaster and all state affairs, should apologize sincerely to the people and the victims,” Lee said during a meeting at the National Assembly in Seoul, Monday. “Taking responsibility comes with action rather than words … There should be a sweeping reshuffle, including the resignation of the prime minister.” 

Lee also called for a new investigation into the case under an independent counsel, saying that police and prosecutors under Yoon cannot be trusted.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link, but I guess the DPK expected the President to be out there personally conducting crowd control in Itaewon.

With all the investigations going on involving the political opposition, the Justice Minister is unsurprisingly being closely watched by the opposition in effort to politically neutralize him:

Justice Minister Han Dong-hoon said Tuesday he will take legal action against Rep. Kim Eui-kyeom of the main opposition Democratic Party and a YouTube channel for spreading what he calls groundless allegations about a controversial drinking party.

Han said in a personal statement that Kim, YouTube channel “Citizen Press The Tamsa TV” and its officials will be held “criminally and civilly” liable for spreading obviously false information on him via YouTube and other methods.

Kim alleged in a parliamentary inspection of the justice ministry the previous day that Han had a late-night drinking party at a luxury bar in Cheongdam-dong, southern Seoul, on July 19 and 20 with President Yoon Suk-yeol and 30 lawyers from Kim ＆ Chang, the country’s top law firm.

Citizen Press The Tamsa TV, which is now under police investigation for tailing Han for nearly a month on the minister’s way home from work, raised the same allegations on the day.

Han categorically rejected the allegations, saying he had never been to the luxury bar and felt insulted by Kim’s false accusations.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but if people think politics in the U.S. is bad, it is arguably worse in Korea.

I am not sure what the prosecutors are hoping to find with this raid because you would think any evidence would have long been removed if it existed at all:

An apparently tearful opposition leader Lee Jae-myung cried foul Monday after prosecutors raided the headquarters of his Democratic Party (DP) in a corruption investigation that is zeroing in on him after the arrest of one of his closest aides.

Investigators made their way into the DP headquarters to search the office of Kim Yong, a longtime confidant of Lee, over allegations that he took 847 million won (US$591,000) from property developers in the suburban city of Seongnam in violation of the political fund law.

Kim, who was arrested Saturday, is deputy head of the DP-affiliated Institute for Democracy think tank. It was the second attempt to raid the DP headquarters after an earlier attempt fell through due to protests from party officials.

“The central headquarters building of the opposition party was violated in the middle of a parliamentary audit,” Lee told reporters in front of the party headquarters. “A terrible incident unprecedented in the history of democracy in the Republic of Korea is happening now.”

While speaking, Lee apparently became tearful, looked up at the sky and wiped his eye.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but this is just another example of the rule by law in South Korea instead of rule of law. Whatever political party is in power uses the rule by law principle to go after their political enemies and this is just the continuation of this.

It appears this whole investigation of the fishery official killed by North Korea has turned political. I say this because there is really no way to prove definitively that this guy was trying to defect or not since he left no note or any other evidence stating he was doing so. That left the Moon administration to make an assessment on how this guy ended up in the water. Maybe there assessment was wrong, but it doesn’t mean it was criminal:

Former President Moon Jae-in said the state audit agency’s recent attempt to question him over a South Korean fisheries official killed by North Korea in 2020 is “very rude,” according to Rep. Youn Kun-young, his former aide.

The lawmaker of the main opposition liberal Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) told reporters at the National Assembly, Monday, that Moon said it was “very rude” and improper for the Board of Audit and Inspection (BAI) to call him and send him an official email regarding the case.

After receiving the email on Sept. 28, the office of Moon’s secretary told the institution two days later that he will not answer any of its questions.

The 47-year-old fisheries official, who was unarmed, was killed in September 2020 by the North Korean military while adrift in the North’s territorial waters and his body was incinerated afterwards. It was initially concluded that he was killed during his attempt to defect to the North. But the story took a drastic turn as the military and police, under the Yoon Suk-yeol government, said there was not sufficient evidence that he was intentionally trying to cross the border. Over the past few months, the prosecution has been looking into who was involved in drawing that conclusion.

“The BAI appears to try to curry favor with the people in power despite its duty to maintain political neutrality. We should find the whole truth behind this,” Youn said.

More than 10 lawmakers, who worked for the previous administration, appeared at the press conference where they vowed to fight against what they described as “political retaliation” by the Yoon administration.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

The back and forth over President Yoon’s hot mic comments during his U.S. trip has become nothing more than partisan bickering at this point. With that said considering MBC’s past track record, it is very believable someone there would be willing to falsify President Yoon’s comments:

The People Power Party (PPP) said Tuesday it will create a task force to investigate what it called “selective and biased” subtitling of President Yoon Suk-yeol’s hot mic moment in New York last week.  
   
The PPP’s announcement came the same day that the Democratic Party (DP) made clear it would push ahead with plans to punish those in the government it deems at fault for what it has characterized as a gaffe-ridden presidential tour of Britain, the United States and Canada.  
   
The dueling plans by the rival parties represent an escalation in the political spat over comments made by Yoon at a fundraiser in New York hosted by U.S. President Joe Biden. (…..)

The comments could be heard in a video recording first released last week by MBC, or Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation. Some of Yoon’s remarks in the clip were drowned out by loud music and background noise.    
   
Based on the broadcaster’s subtitles, Yoon was speaking about Biden losing face if he didn’t get congressional approval for something. Initial reports said he was referring to Biden’s pledge to contribute another $6 billion to the Global Fund, which would require U.S. Congress approval.  
   
The PPP, led by floor leader Joo Ho-young, alleges that MBC distorted the president’s remarks.  
   
“MBC basically incorporated tabloid speculation as subtitles for the president’s words,” Joo said at a gathering of all the party’s lawmakers at the National Assembly on Tuesday. “We believe that MBC violated basic journalistic ethics, including fact-checking, in its report,” he added.  
   
Earlier, the presidential office denied that Yoon was referring to members of the U.S. Congress when he used the expletive, saying that he was actually talking about members of Korea’s National Assembly.  
   
The PPP has already filed a libel lawsuit against MBC President and CEO Park Sung-jae, reporters and other relevant individuals for alleged disclosure of false information.  
   
They argued that the report harmed Korea’s “national interests” and demanded an apology from MBC and its CEO’s resignation.     

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link.

President Yoon says that reports of him using a cuss word to describe the U.S. Congress is untrue:

 President Yoon Suk-yeol said Monday that untrue media reports of his remarks caught on hot mic damaged South Korea’s alliance with the United States in his first response to the controversy.

Last week, Yoon was caught on video making a remark privately to aides in New York that appeared to include vulgar words. Though the recording was not clear due to noise, many thought Yoon was talking about U.S. Congress and U.S. President Joe Biden.

But Yoon’s office rejected the claim, saying he was referring to South Korea’s opposition-controlled National Assembly without mentioning U.S. Congress or Biden. Yoon’s ruling People Power Party also claimed people misheard Yoon’s remarks because the video had a subtitle misrepresenting them.

“Damaging the alliance with untrue media reports would be putting people in danger,” Yoon told reporters, adding that how such incorrect reports have circulated should be clearly verified.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but I guess the Korean National Assembly is the expletives that Yoon was referring to, so everyone should feel better about his remarks?

This makes me wonder who was coordinating this trip for President Yoon because there is a big difference between a 30 minute meeting and less than a minute:

When Deputy National Security Adviser Kim Tae-hyo said last week that President Yoon Suk-yeol’s summit with U.S. President Joe Biden would be brief ― 30 minutes or so ― many thought that it might be too short to talk about the urgent issues between the two countries. But the meeting in New York City turned out to be even shorter ― far shorter ― than he hoped it would be. At a fundraising event hosted by Biden, Yoon had a standing conversation with him for less than a minute ― 48 seconds, precisely. 

According to Yoon’s office and the White House, Wednesday (local time), Yoon asked Biden to help resolve South Korean companies’ concerns over the Inflation Reduction Act and they reaffirmed their commitment to bolstering the bilateral alliance against North Korea during the conversation. 

The act, passed last month, gives a tax credit to buyers of electric vehicles (EVs) from next January if a minimum of 40 percent of the critical minerals in their batteries are mined or processed in the U.S. or countries that signed free trade agreements in the U.S., or recycled in North America. At least 50 percent of the battery components must also be manufactured or assembled in North America. The law is causing significant concern for Korean automakers.

The news immediately drew criticism from the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), which called the meeting the latest episode of “diplomatic disaster” committed by Yoon.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

It appears that President Yoon is not a big fan of the U.S. Congress:

South Korea’s presidential office defended President Yoon Suk-yeol on Thursday after he was caught on video using foul language to apparently refer to U.S. lawmakers.

In the video, Yoon is seen talking with U.S. President Joe Biden at a fundraiser for fighting infectious diseases in New York on Wednesday. As he turns away to leave, he appears to tell his aides with vulgar language that it would be embarrassing for Biden if the National Assembly did not approve of something unspecified.

The clip led to speculation and criticism that Yoon was referring to Biden’s pledge to contribute another US$6 billion to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. His mention of the National Assembly was interpreted as a reference to U.S. Congress.

A senior presidential official said he did not pay attention to the remarks and did not remember them as he was following the president from behind.

“He wasn’t speaking publicly on the stage but in passing, and although I don’t know who recorded it and how, I actually think it should be verified,” the official told reporters in New York.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but this is just another self inflicted political wound that Yoon’s critics can now dwell on for a couple of news cycles. He is already dealing with another self inflicted wound by showing up too late to London to give condolences at Westminster Abbey prior to the funeral for Queen Elizabeth II.

President Yoon’s popularity continues to slide in South Korea:

President Yoon Suk-yeol’s approval rating was recorded slightly above 30 percent in a national poll conducted just before the Chuseok fall harvest holiday, a poll showed Saturday.

In a two-day poll conducted by Korea Research on 1,001 adults from Wednesday, Yoon’s approval rating stood at 30.4 percent, while his disapproval rating was recorded at 63.6 percent. Six percent said they were uncertain of their assessments.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.