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If politicians in the U.S. want to know what real election meddling looks like they should read this article from ROK Drop favorite Dr. Tara O about the alleged meddling going on in South Korean elections by the Blue House:

A former Blue House inspector Baek Jae-young (백재영) was found dead on December 1, 2019 just hours prior to the time he was due to appear at the prosecutor’s office to answer questions.  He was a key witness in the ongoing investigation about the alleged Blue House manipulation of the election in Ulsan Metropolitan City in 2018.

Baek Jae-young, a prosecutor, was seconded to the Blue House, and worked under Baek Won-woo (백원우) (the same last name, but not related) during the time when the Blue House is suspected of ordering an investigation against the Ulsan mayor Kim Gi-Hyeon (김기현), Liberty Korea Party, during Kim’s mayoral election campaign in 2018.  The grounds for this investigation appear questionable, and while Kim Gi-Hyeon was ultimately found innocent, the investigation appears to have prejudiced voters against Kim, who was ahead in the polls prior to the investigation, and played a role in his defeat.  Other conservative mayoral candidates in the province faced similar criminal investigations.

East Asia Research Center

You can read more at the link, but this alleged election interference in Ulsan is just the latest example of how the Korean left interferes in election. ROK Heads may remember the Druking Scandal to rig online opinion for Moon in the last ROK Presidential election. President Moon’s close friend was sentenced to jail for two years and then quickly let out.

This is on top of the irregularities involving the tablet computer that led to the impeachment of former ROK President Park Geun-hye that caused the last presidential election to occur.

President Moon’s friend is released from jail after 77 days despite his involvement in rigging online opinion to influence a Presidential election while a journalist received a 2 year jail sentence for reporting facts and was not released after such a short time:

South Gyeongsang Province Gov. Kim Kyoung-soo was released Wednesday after 77 days of detention over his role in a massive rigging of online opinions.
The Seoul High Court approved Kim’s request for bail but attached a condition under which he should only stay in his residence in Changwon, 400 kilometers south of Seoul.
Kim, known as a confidant of President Moon Jae-in, was sentenced to two years in prison in January for colluding with a power blogger to carry out an illicit cyber operation to sway public opinion in favor of Moon ahead of the 2017 presidential election.
“(I) will prove once and for all that truth will come around no matter how far it is thrown away,” he told reporters. “(I) will reveal the truth through an appeals trial.”
Kim, 51, earlier requested the bail on the grounds that the provincial government suffered a setback in doing its work due to his absence. For the 200 million-won (US$176,025) bail, the court ordered him to pay half of the amount in cash.
Kim received the two-year jail term for collusion with the power blogger, better known by his nickname, Druking, to artificially jack up the number of likes of Internet comments on sensitive political news to benefit the ruling Democratic Party (DP), the then main opposition party, and its presidential candidate Moon ahead of the 2017 elections.
Moon won the snap election in May, replacing former President Park Geun-hye, who was ousted from office in March 2017 over a corruption scandal.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but the excuse that the provincial government could not work effectively because he is in jail is one of the lamest excuses I have heard yet. Would any other criminal be let out of prison early because their work place suffered a setback with that person’s absence?

This verdict is pretty surprising to me because so much was done to help cover Kim Kyoung-soo’s tracks during the special counsel investigation:

South Gyeongsang Gov. Kim Kyoung-soo was placed under immediate detention on Wednesday after a Seoul court sentenced him to two years and 10 months in prison for his role in a major online opinion-rigging scandal in collusion with a political blogger during the 2017 presidential election. 

The Seoul Central District Court ruled that Kim Kyoung-soo was a joint principal offender in the crime along with blogger Kim Dong-won, better known by his internet alias Druking, who was given a three and a half year prison sentence by the same court hours earlier.

The two were found guilty of jointly orchestrating a massive opinion-rigging campaign using a computer program to post and “like” thousands of comments on social media that supported Moon Jae-in’s election bid. 

“This crime severely debilitated the healthy formation of public opinion through exchange and debate in an online space,” said Seong Chang-ho, the judge presiding over the case at Kim Kyoung-soo’s sentencing Wednesday afternoon. “The criminality of this case is especially severe since public opinion was mechanically distorted away from the will of the electorate.”

Kim Kyoung-soo’s conviction and jailing marks a mighty fall from grace for a close ally of the administration and a presidential hopeful for the ruling Democratic Party (DP). 

He will retain his position as governor of South Gyeongsang for now, even in detention, but will be removed from office if his case goes to the Supreme Court and he loses. Election laws dictate that any elected official who receives a prison sentence or any fine above 1 million won ($895) are removed from their posts.

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link, but this verdict can still be overturned on appeal by the ROK Supreme Court. Remember that the Moon administration just arrested the last ROK Supreme Court Chief Justice. Maybe they are sending a subtle message to the ROK Supreme Court to not cross the Moon administration. I guess we will see what happens.

Anyone surprised by this news?: 

Accusations that the Moon Jae-in Blue House spied on private citizens broadened on Tuesday after a local broadcaster reported that the presidential office’s special inspection bureau looked into a corruption allegation about Airport Railroad, a private operator of trains connecting Incheon International Airport and downtown Seoul.

After Channel A ran a report on its evening news show on Monday, the Blue House said it was a mere mistake: The bureau’s head erroneously thought the firm was a public company due to its “name and characteristic of work.”

Opposition parties aren’t buying that explanation. The Liberty Korea Party threatened to bring the case to the National Assembly for a parliamentary investigation unless the Moon Blue House clears everything up – instead of blaming mistakes or rogue elements.

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link, but the only thing that I would surprised by is if anyone in the Moon administration is held accountable for the domestic spying.  As we have seen with other Moon administration scandals they will go to great lengths to defend their allies. 

As we have seen repeatedly the Moon administration is willing to go great lengths to protect their friends and punish their enemies.  Now they are targeting a corruption whistleblower and letting the media know they will go after them as well if they continue to report his claims:

A former investigator with the Blue House special inspection bureau accused President Moon Jae-in’s top aides of covering up bribery allegations against Korean Ambassador to Russia Woo Yoon-keun and said he was kicked out of the prestigious Blue House team for looking into the case.

Kim Tae-wu, an investigator with the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office who was temporarily dispatched to the Blue House last year to work for the special inspection bureau, told local media on Saturday that he was victimized for targeting Woo, a high-profile figure in Korean liberal politics who formerly served as a lawmaker in the ruling Democratic Party (DP) and has close ties with Moon. In an email to several media outlets, Kim said he wanted to shed light on the truth and recover his tarnished reputation.

Both the Blue House and Woo adamantly denied Kim’s claims that the envoy was bribed. In scathing remarks, Yoon Young-chan, Moon’s senior secretary for public affairs, referred to Kim as a “loach” in a written statement issued to Blue House correspondents on Saturday, saying the investigator was “completely muddying stream water” now that he’s been cornered.

Yoon added that the truth will soon be revealed and the Blue House will “certainly” press legal charges against Kim for the spread of false information and defamation. Yoon went on to express “deep regret” for the local media outlets who were writing stories based on “unilateral claims” from Kim. Kim was one of 20 to 30 members of the so-called special inspection bureau under the office of Cho Kuk, presidential senior secretary for civil affairs.

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link, but the last paragraph is another example of how the Moon administration uses the nation’s libel laws to silence and imprison critics.  

Here is the latest on the Moon administration’s attempt to take out another political rival using South Korea libel laws:

Prosecutors summoned the wife of Gyeonggi Gov. Lee Jae-myung for questioning on Tuesday over allegations that she defamed her husband’s political rivals online.

Kim Hye-kyung, who police identified as the owner of the Twitter handle @08_hkkim, told reporters she was tired and frustrated at being wrongly accused as she entered the Suwon District Prosecutors’ Office in Seongnam, Gyeonggi.

“I only hope the truth is revealed,” she said, echoing the words of her husband who underwent his own 13-hour interrogation last week over a number of different criminal accusations.

A police investigation into Kim’s case revealed last month that the @08_hkkim Twitter account posted thousands of political messages supporting Lee and defaming his political rivals. Some of the political figures publicly defamed were Rep. Jeon Hae-cheol of the ruling Democratic Party (DP) and President Moon Jae-in.

Prosecutors say that Kim may be charged with spreading false information about Jeon in the run up to the Gyeonggi gubernatorial election in June and smearing the reputation of Moon’s son, Moon Joon-yong, with allegations that he obtained a public sector job through his father’s influence.

Both Kim and the governor deny the accusations, claiming that she never operated the Twitter account.  [Joong Ang Ilbo]

You can read more at the link, but with a Twitter handle with her named attached to it she obviously wasn’t trying to hide her identity if it was her.  On the other hand it could have been someone else who set up the Twitter handle to set her up.  After all the misinformation we saw over the “discovery” of the PC tablet that brought down President Park, anything is possible.

By the way I do like how the prosecutors are going after Governor Lee Jae-myung, a political rival to President Moon Jae-in than they were after fellow Governor Kim Kyoung-soo for his part in the far worse Druking Scandal.  I have always said South Korea is not a rule of law country, but instead a rule by law country which means it helps to be the President’s close friend in regards to Governor Kim.

The Moon administration continues to go after a political rival using the country’s libel laws:

Prosecutors and investigators from the Suwon District Prosecutors’ Office began the raid on Lee’s home in Seongnam, south of Seoul, at around 9 a.m.

About the same time, another group of prosecutors searched Lee’s office in Suwon in the presence of the governor and his lawyer.

The raid was apparently intended to retrieve an iPhone used by Lee’s wife, Kim Hye-kyung, from July 2016 until April this year, when allegations of her involvement in online slandering of Lee’s election rivals surfaced.

Dr. Taro O has an update on the prosecution of South Korean journalist Byun Hee-jae who was jailed for writing something true.  The crux of the matter really comes to the authenticity of the PC Tablet that led to the impeachment of former President Park:

It turned out, according to the prosecutor’s own forensic report, that the tablet PC was not legitimate evidence of the alleged activity.  There were no edited files in the tablet, despite JTBC’s claims, which said Choi carried the tablet PC around and edited documents, including the Dresden speech.  Incidentally, Park gave the Dresden speech on March 18, 2014.  The Dresden speech file found in the tablet was loaded onto the tablet on March 27, 2018, which is after the fact, and it was a .gif file.  Additionally, the tablet did not even have editing software (HWP software), so there was no capability to edit the Korean language document. (17:11)  The records show that there was software for viewing only, which was loaded in November 2012 and was used to view documents until January 2013, and nothing after that, until 8 a.m., October 18, 2016–8 hours before JTBC “found” the tablet.   (17:11)

The forensic report was 700 pages long and difficult to understand.  (Byun, 119)  The report findings were inconclusive as to who owned the tablet. In fact, the tablet was set up by Kim Han-soo (김한수),former Blue House executive officer.  Kim Han-soo went to SK Telecom on June 22, 2012 and opened an account for the tablet under his company’s name “Malay Company.” (1:23)  This was around the time of the presidential elections.  On October 8, 2017, Shin Hye-won (신혜원) came forward to say the tablet is hers–that she was the primary user.  Shin worked on then-candidate Park Geun-hye’s campaign in 2012.  She saw in the media various photos, documents, and phone numbers found in the tablet and recognized them.  Even Ko Young-tae (고영태), a key witness who helped the special prosecutor during the impeachment trial, stated “I understand that she [Choi] is not the type of person who can use a tablet PC,” placing doubt on the claim that the tablet belongs to Choi or that she used it.  Choi has also said the tablet does not belong to her, that she does not even know how to use it, that she has never even seen the tablet in question, and asked to see the tablet.  (1:40) The court never showed her the tablet. (1:54)

Despite these and other facts that raise serious questions about the integrity of JTBC’s claim that the tablet is Choi’s and that Choi edited the documents, thereby “having the monopoly of the state affairs”–Gukjeong Nongdan–the National Assembly used the tablet as the “evidence” to impeach Park.  Thus Park was impeached based on an absurd, illogical accusation incited by JTBC and the media that stirred up the Korean people’s passions.  [East Asia Research Center]

The authenticity of the Tablet PC is something I have long questioned because it just didn’t make any sense when looked at objectively.  However, it appears that the fix may be in to convict Byun Hee-jae:

Byun Hee-jai has asked judge Park Joo-young for further examination of the tablet to try to determine who it belongs to.  Of seven witnesses Byun asked for, the judge allowed only two journalists from JTBC–Seo Bokyun (서복현) and Cho Taek-soo (조택수), and rejected Choi Seo-won, Shin Hye-won, Ko Young-tae, Kim Hans-soo, and No Seung-gwon (노승권) (former prosecutor who lied that the file was in the tablet when it was not) as witnesses.  (1:15) It seems pretty clear that the tablet does not belong to Choi.  At minimum, there are serious questions whether the tablet is Choi’s or not.  As stated above, the prosecutor’s report is inconclusive.  Yet prosecutor Hong Seong-joon maintains that the tablet belongs to Choi Seo-won.

If the verdict is not reached by the expiration date of the trial, which is early December, Byun must be released from jail.  (1:45) There are signs that the trial is being rushed in order to reach a decision prior to that date–the judge rejected other requests from the accused, including putting the key witnesses on the stand, as stated above, and not allowing an examination to try to determine who owns the tablet.  The judge seems set to make a decision without hard evidence.

I recommend reading the whole article at the link, but the Moon administration has been able to silence the Druking investigation into online opinion tampering, so I would not be surprised if they are able to silence Byun Hee-jae and other conservative journalists reporting on the Tablet PC as well through the libel laws.  I hope I am pleasantly surprised and the judge drops the charges against Byun, but I guess we will see what happens in the coming weeks.

It is interesting that the authorities are going after the wife of a political rival for allegedly spreading rumors online, but a coordinated online opinion rigging scandal for the President of Korea they quietly let go away:

The police have determined that a disputed Twitter account that spread false election rumors belongs to the wife of Gyeonggi Province Governor Lee Jae-myung.

The cyber unit at Gyeonggi Nambu Provincial Police Agency said Saturday that it will ask prosecutors early next week to indict Kim Hye-gyeong on charges of violating the Public Official Election Act.

A police official said details will not be disclosed to the media as Kim denies the charges and a legal battle is expected.

False information was posted on the Twitter account in question in April during the ruling Democratic Party’s primary race for the Gyeonggi governorship. The claim was damaging to her husband’s rival candidate.

The account also falsely claimed in late 2016 that then presidential hopeful Moon Jae-in’s son received employment favors.

The police analyzed some 40-thousand Tweets to identify the account’s owner and concluded that it belongs to the governor’s wife.  [KBS World Radio]

Could you imagine what the reaction would be from mainstream journalists if the Trump administration cracked down on fake news put out by liberal websites?  The Moon administration does this against conservative websites and there is not a peep so far about it from so called journalists:

Justice Minister Park Sang-ki called on prosecutors Tuesday to crack down on fake news, saying the spread of false information undermines public trust in society and can lead to serious political and economic damages.  (……)

Opposition parties fired at Lee, saying the Moon Jae-in administration was out to suppress freedom of speech.

In a Justice Ministry press release Tuesday, Park ordered prosecutors to crack down on fake news and track whoever was responsible for its production and distribution. In cases in which serious falsehoods are clear, prosecutors were told to “actively start” investigations even before a formal complaint had been submitted to them.

The Justice Ministry said it planned to collect cases that local courts ruled to have been fake news and pass them on to the police, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korea Communications Standards Commission in order to request assistance in deleting them from the internet, monitoring any further spread and educating society about their false nature.

The Justice Ministry denied Park’s orders amounted to a violation of freedom of speech, saying authorities were trying to tackle the spread of fake information, which actually “disturbs” the public’s right to know and “threatens the sphere of democratic public debate.”  [Joong Ang Ilbo]

You can read more at the link, but remember the Moon administration has already used violence & labor unions to consolidate control of local media and been busy jailing conservative journalists using libel laws.

What makes this crackdown even more dubious is that the Druking Scandal that linked the Moon administration to election manipulation through false comment liking software has quietly went away.