Considering how Trump has repeatedly said that he is going to make Koreans pay more for their defense and increase taxes on imports to protect American businesses is it any wonder why Hillary Clinton is polling so high in South Korea?:
Hillary Clinton meets then-ROK President Lee Myung-bak during her time as secretary of state.
If South Koreans could vote in the U.S. presidential election next month, Hillary Clinton would win by a landslide. More than 8 in 10 would throw their weight behind the Democratic candidate, who is surging in popularity both domestically and abroad, a survey released September 30 suggests.
In the poll of over 44,000 adults in 45 countries from August to September, WIN/Gallup International found that 82 percent of South Koreans would have voted for Clinton as the next U.S. president, compared to 3 percent backing her Republican opponent Donald Trump and 15 percent undecided or declining to answer.
South Koreans were Clinton’s third-strongest supporters behind only Finland and Portugal, which backed her 86 and 85 percent, respectively. The former first lady, senator, and secretary of state found support across the board, with Russia the only surveyed country preferring her business mogul rival and China nearly split on the candidates. [The Diplomat via a reader tip]
Pretty interesting article about Colin Powell’s email that were hacked and released recently. It is amazing he was willing to say these things on email, but here is one of the critical things he says about Hillary Clinton:
“I would rather not have to vote for her, although she is a friend I respect,” Powell wrote to Leeds on July 26, 2014. “A 70-year person with a long track record, unbridled ambition, greedy, not transformational, with a husband still dicking bimbos at home (according to the NYP).” [Washington Examiner]
Here is what he had to say about Donald Trump:
“Yup, the whole birther movement was racist,” Mr. Powell wrote in one email. “That’s what the 99% believe. When Trump couldn’t keep that up he said he also wanted to see if the certificate noted that he was a Muslim. As I have said before, ‘What if he was?’ Muslims are born as Americans everyday.”
Powell also called Trump a “national disgrace” and an “international pariah.”
This Wall Street Journal article makes a good point, how did the civil service allow Secretary Clinton to get away with using a private email server for so long?:
Forget the new dump of Hillary Clinton emails. Forget the phony claims that the missing communications were all about wedding plans and yoga routines. Forget, too, the many requests from Doug Band in which the Clinton Foundation honcho hoped his quos (hefty donations to the Clinton Foundation) would translate into quids (e.g., special access to the secretary).
Forget them all. The most disturbing aspect about the FBI dump may not be fresh evidence of another Clinton lie. The most disturbing thing about Mrs. Clinton’s continuing email drama may be where she’s telling the truth.
Or at least a half-truth. Mrs. Clinton told the FBI it was “common knowledge” at State that she used private email. Agents further quote her as saying she “could not recall anyone raising concerns with her regarding the sensitivity of the information she received at her email address.”
However unseemly the cashing in of the Clinton family, whatever the trampling of the ethics accord the Clinton Foundation had signed with the White House, even apart from the walking conflicts-of-interests that were Huma Abedin and Cheryl Mills, the much larger stink here is this: Mrs. Clinton was allowed to spend her four years as secretary of state off the grid.
It isn’t so much that Mrs. Clinton set up a personal server so she would not be accountable the way normal political appointees are held accountable. It’s that no one in government stopped her. [Wall Street Journal]
You can read more at the link, but in the military I have never heard or seen a senior officer use a private email address. If someone did it would immediately raise eyebrows and eventually an IG complaint from someone if it continued.
Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump has taken another swipe at South Korea:
U.S. Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump denounced the free trade pact with South Korea as a “job killing” deal Thursday, pledging to totally renegotiate what he called “horrible” trade agreements.
It was not the first time Trump has voiced criticism of the Korea-U.S. trade agreement, but Thursday’s remark carried greater weight as it came in his first speech since formally winning the nomination at the national convention under way in Cleveland.
In a nationally televised nomination acceptance speech, Trump criticized his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton for supporting many trade deals hurting the American middle class, including the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), and for supporting China’s entrance into the World Trade Organization.
“She supported the job-killing trade deal with South Korea. She has supported the Trans-Pacific Partnership. The TPP will not only destroy our manufacturing, but it will make America subject to the rulings of foreign governments,” Trump said. [Korea Times]
You can read more at the link, but considering how the Korean left was against the US-ROK FTA does this mean that the Korean left are fans of Donald Trump? Now that would be an odd pairing.
I am sure everyone saw this coming, but I am still surprised she wasn’t at least fined like General Petraeus was for mishandling classified information:
FBI Director James Comey makes a statement at FBI Headquarters in Washington, Tuesday, July 5, 2016. CLIFF OWEN/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
The FBI won’t recommend criminal charges against Hillary Clinton for her use of a private email server while secretary of state, agency Director James Comey said Tuesday, lifting a major legal threat to her presidential campaign.
Comey’s decision almost certainly brings the legal part of the issue to a close and removes the threat of criminal charges. Attorney General Loretta Lynch said last week that she would accept the recommendations of the FBI director and of career prosecutors.
“No charges are appropriate in this case,” Comey said in making his announcement.
But Comey made that statement after he delivered a blistering review of Clinton’s actions, saying the FBI found that 110 emails were sent or received on Clinton’s server containing classified information. He said Clinton and her aides were “extremely careless” and added that it was possible that people hostile to the U.S. had gained access to her personal email account. [Associated Press]
Is it time to scrap the KORUS FTA? US Presidential candidate Donald Trump thinks so, but the ROK finance minister disagrees:
Finance Minister Yoo Il-ho refuted remarks by U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump that the free trade agreement between Korea and the United States (KORUS FTA) undermines the American economy.
Minister Yoo made his remarks a day after Trump lambasted the KORUS FTA as “a job-killing deal” and said the deal “doubles our trade deficit with Korea and will destroy nearly 100,000 American jobs.”
Yoo also said joining the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) is “very important” for countries in the Pacific region, a stance in stark contrast with Trump’s pledge that he will pull the U.S. out of the 12-nation body if he is elected.
“That will not help any people in the world,” Yoo said during an American Chamber of Commerce in Korea (AMCHAM Korea) General Membership Meeting.
Yoo said that Seoul acknowledges that some criticize the KORUS FTA citing the increased U.S. current account deficit, but stressed that the deal’s advantages “easily outweigh” the disadvantages.
“Trump’s remarks show that he does not understand the KORUS FTA,” Yoo said. “The sales of American automobiles in Korea soared by 28 percent annually, which makes Korea the second largest market for U.S. carmakers,” he said, adding that Samsung Electronics and Lotte Chemical have invested some $15 billion and $3 billion in the U.S., respectively.
Over Trump’s remarks, widely translated as protectionist, Yoo urged that the deal ― which marks its fourth anniversary this year ― should be consolidated further. [Korea Times]
Well known North Korean sympathizing professor Bruce Cumings thinks a Trump presidency would be interesting based on some of his campaign rhetoric about North Korea:
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump could bring a number of “interesting” things to the U.S. presidency, including how the real estate tycoon would deal with North Korea, an American professor said.
Bruce Cumings, a University of Chicago professor with deep expertise on Korea, made the remark in a recent article in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, noting that Trump has expressed a willingness to hold direct talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
“If Hillary Clinton becomes president, she will undoubtedly continue the policy of isolation and denuclearization of North Korea. Any number of things would make a Trump presidency interesting, to say the least, but one of them is to see what he would really do in regard to Korea policy,” Cumings said. [Yonhap]
