Search Results for: yoon seok-youl

Here is what Lee Jae-myung had to say about his rival’s wife’s resume padding issue and his own son’s legal problems:

On December 29, Lee Jae-myung, the presidential candidate of the Democratic Party of Korea, shared his opinion on Kim Keon-hee, the wife of the People Power Party’s candidate Yoon Seok-youl, and her apology to the nation for allegedly fabricating her resume and said, “When you say you’re sorry, you should mention why you are sorry, but if you offer an apology like ‘I’ll say I’m sorry because you want me to say it,’ it must make the people receiving the apology feel uncomfortable.”

This morning, Lee Jae-myung appeared on the MBC radio show, Kim Jong-bae’s Focus and during the interview when the host asked Lee’s assessment of Kim’s apology, Lee also said, “As a competitor, I don’t think it is appropriate (for me to give an evaluation).”

He said, “From a broader perspective, I am also destined (for verification). We are choosing a president who is accountable for the fate of the nation as well as the lives of the people in its entirety, and he will be granted immense power. So it is right that we engage in unlimited competition on all factors that will be affected by that power.” He further said, “We need to do so by revealing everything, including family, aides, one’s own self, and the past.”

Lee also spoke on how his son, unlike Kim who made a public apology, did not publicly apologize for his illegal gambling, and said, “The first lady is a public figure who is given authority and support. The president’s son who is an adult is practically a stranger.” Lee continued and said, “I think the people can make their own judgments on the argument that my son should personally make an apology since the wife did,” and added, “Just because someone made an argument does not make it the truth.”

As for the criticism on his returning his master’s thesis following controversy over plagiarism, Lee said, “I returned it because it wasn’t something I absolutely needed in my life, so the school could just cancel it, but they wouldn’t.” He further explained, “I received a letter in the name of my professor, and it said, ‘This is enough for an evening graduate school degree.’ So I asked them to cancel it since I didn’t need it, but the school wouldn’t.”

Kyunghyang Shinmun

You can read more at the link, but you can read more about Lee’s son’s illegal gambling problems as well as the accusations he has been going to a massage parlor at this link. You can read about Lee’s plagiarism of his Master’s degree which he admits to at this link.

The controversy over Yoon Seok-yul’s wife may cost him the Korean presidency if he can’t shore up his support with conservatives. Lee Jae-myung maybe able to win this election if he is able to gain support from Ahn Cheol-soo:

On December 27, a poll showed that the lead, which Yoon Seok-youl, the presidential candidate of the People Power Party, had over Lee Jae-myung, the Democratic Party of Korea’s candidate, has narrowed (0.7%) to within the margin of error, suggesting a very close race.

Upon the request of OhmyNews, Realmeter conducted a survey of 3,090 people from December 19 to 24, and the results this day showed that 39.7% supported Lee Jae-myung, while 40.4% supported Yoon Seok-youl. Lee managed to obtain the support of 1.7% more voters from the previous survey (Dec. 12-17), while Yoon lost 4.0% of support. The difference between the two candidates was only 0.7%, 6.4% closer than in the previous survey.

Lee Jae-myung lost 2.7% of support from the progressives, but managed to gain 2.4% more support among the moderates, which contributed to his overall rise in support. Meanwhile, Yoon Seok-youl’s approval rating dropped 5.8% among the conservatives and 2.6% among the moderates. The controversy surrounding his wife, Kim Keon-hee and her fabricated resume and his conflicts with People Power Party leader Lee Jun-seok appear to have influenced his drop in support.

Kyunghyang Shinmun

You can read more at the link.

It looks like the South Korean presidential race has turned into what most political become, a mudslinging contest:

The race to the presidency has turned into a mudslinging contest, with the two leading candidates appearing to focus mainly on dragging each other down with accusations.

The two-way race between Lee Jae-myung of the ruling party and his main opposition counterpart, Yoon Seok-youl, has consisted largely of remarks questioning each other’s fitness for the chief post.

The main opposition People Power Party on Monday called on Lee to accept a special counsel probe concerning a controversial land development project in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, when he was mayor of the city in 2015.

Lee is dogged by suspicions of unlawfully favoring his aides for the project.

“Candidate Lee Jae-myung clearly voiced his intention to accept the special counsel inspection without conditions, but the Democratic Party really has no intention to accept that even though it said it would do so on the surface,” People Power Party spokesperson Jeon Ju-hye said in a commentary Monday.

“In essence, candidate Lee Jae-myung and the Democratic Party are staging a ‘special counsel inspection show’ while trying to avoid the eyes of the people and evade suspicions of involvement in the Daejang-dong scandal.”

The ruling Democratic Party of Korea a day earlier called on Yoon to respond to accusations about his “problematic” investigative decisions when he was a prosecutor. The party denounced Yoon for avoiding the questions by saying he couldn’t remember.

“The People Power Party and candidate Yoon Seok-youl have resorted to saying ‘I can’t remember’ whenever they fall in disadvantageous situations,” the ruling party’s public relations team said in a statement Sunday.

“Until when are you going to show this cowardly attitude of hiding behind memories? This attitude only emphasizes how he, if he becomes the supreme leader, will hide corruption by his close aides. We will watch when that memory returns.”

Korea Herald

You can read more at the link, but something I did not realize was that Lee Jae-myung back in 2006 represented his nephew as his lawyer to defend him against brutal double murder charges of two women he killed.

You know you don’t have much to debate when you have to play the anal acupuncturist card:

 Yoon Seok-youl, the leading opposition presidential candidate, has increasingly faced questions about superstitious or unscientific beliefs, this time over his alleged ties to an anal acupuncture specialist that he claims to have no knowledge of.

The allegation surfaced Tuesday during the sixth TV debate among presidential contenders of the main opposition People Power Party, when one of Yoon’s competitors, former Rep. Yoo Seong-min, asked him if he has met someone “known to perform acupuncture on a strange and particular area.” 

Yoon replied he had not. (…….)

Yoo’s campaign reprised the attack on Wednesday, issuing a statement asking “what is Yoon trying to hide by lying” about his relationship with the man.

Yoon’s campaign fired back: “Not only did (Yoo) turn the TV debate into a quiz show on psychics, he is now spreading lies. This attempt to damage Yoon is nothing short of shameful.”

On the video, a spokesperson for Yoon said the man had tried to approach the candidate at the event but was restrained by Yoon’s aides.

Moreover, the man in question was a regular feature not only at political events attended by Yoo, the former lawmaker, but also other political heavyweights such as the ruling Democratic Party’s presidential contender, Lee Nak-yon, minor People’s Party leader Ahn Cheol-soo and former U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, according to Yoon’s campaign.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

The ruling party has been attacking the opposition party’s presidential hopeful with corruption allegations so now they are fighting back with corruption allegations themselves against the ruling party’s candidate:

Clashes between rival political parties intensified Tuesday in connection with a sprawling regional development corruption scandal, causing disruptions of a series of parliamentary audit sessions of the government amid opposition calls for an independent counsel investigation.

At the start of at least three audit sessions, lawmakers of the main opposition People Power Party (PPP) hung banners on their desks calling for a special prosecutor probe and other slogans attacking the ruling Democratic Party and its presidential hopeful Gyeonggi Province Gov. Lee Jae-myung. 

In response, DP lawmakers boycotted the sessions, accusing the PPP of trying to take political advantage of the audit. Some DP members even put up their own banners claiming that the opposition party is to blame for the scandal.

The scandal escalated over the weekend with the arrest of Yoo Dong-gyu, widely considered a close aide to Gov. Lee, on charges that he played key roles in helping a private asset management firm collect astronomical profits from a land development project in Seongnam, south of Seoul.

Lee was mayor of Seongnam at the time.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but if Gov. Lee Jae-myung is found to be some how involved in this scandal this is far more serious than the allegations being thrown at his rival former Prosecutor General, Yoon Seok-youl.

Yoon Seok-youl may be interested in bringing U.S. tactical nukes back to South Korea, but does the U.S. want to do this? If the U.S. military needs to use nuclear weapons in response to a North Korean nuclear attack it seems a submarine would be just as effective?:

Yoon Seok-youl, the leading opposition presidential contender, said Wednesday he will demand the United States redeploy its tactical nuclear weapons here and have nuclear sharing with South Korea if national security is threatened by North Korea’s nukes and missiles.

Unveiling 11 election pledges on diplomacy and security issues, former Prosecutor-General Yoon said he will make efforts to strengthen the Seoul-Washington alliance to deter the North’s evolving nuclear and missile capabilities.

Yoon of the main opposition People Power Party (PPP) said he plans to seek consultation with the U.S. over the process to bring in U.S. nuclear strategic assets, such as intercontinental ballistic missiles, when emergency situations occur on the Korean Peninsula.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

With Yoon’s name out of the headlines since he resigned as prosecutor general, it makes sense that his polling numbers would begin to drop:

Gyeonggi Gov. Lee Jae-myung has overtaken Yoon Seok-youl, the former prosecutor general, for the first time in a hypothetical two-way presidential hopeful poll released Friday. 

In a survey conducted by Gallup Korea on 1,007 adults nationwide from Tuesday to Wednesday, 42 percent picked Gov. Lee, affiliated with the ruling Democratic Party (DP), as their favored candidate for the next presidential election slated for March 2022. 

Yoon, who has led the presidential hopefuls’ race in various polls, fell to second place, with 35.1 percent support.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Despite the best efforts by the Korean left to destroy Yoon Seok-youl he continues to lead presidential polling despite not even announcing himself as a candidate:

Yoon Seok-youl, a former prosecutor general who recently resigned from the post over a prosecutorial reform drive, ranked first in a survey of who is fit to become South Korea’s next president.

In the survey conducted on 1,001 eligible voters by Ipsos, an opinion research firm, Yoon came first with a public support rate of 26.8 percent.

He, however, was closely followed by Gyeonggi Province Gov. Lee Jae-myung with 25.6 percent, which was within a margin of error.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

The Moon administration has finally gotten Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-youl to resign:

 Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-youl resigned Thursday, after strongly objecting to the ruling party’s push to create a new state agency to fully take over investigative powers from the prosecution service.

“I am offering to resign as of today,” Yoon said at a brief press conference held in front of the Supreme Prosecutors Office in Seoul.

“The spirits of the Constitution and the system of rule of law are crumbling. And it will cause damage to people. It is hard to watch common sense and justice collapsing,” he said, adding that he has done everything he could do in his capacity as prosecutor general.

President Moon Jae-in swiftly accepted his resignation offer, Cheong Wa Dae said, shortly after the prosecution chief made the announcement.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but the Moon administration has been trying to take out Yoon because he had the nerve to investigate corruption within the administration. That is what makes this new investigation agency they want to establish so controversial because an administration with a numerous corruption issues wants to form their own agency to investigate corruption and other crimes. The concern is that ruling party will use it to protect themselves and go after their political enemies. If this new agency was in operation when the Cho Kuk scandal hit does anyone think this Blue House appointed agency would have done much to investigate and indict him and his family for corruption?

As I have said before South Korea has long been a rule by law country and not a rule of law country. This agency may make it worse.