Tag: Hwang Kyo-ahn

It appears everything went well with the phone call between President Trump and acting ROK President Hwang:

President Donald Trump reaffirmed Washington’s “ironclad commitment” to the alliance with South Korea during a phone call Monday with the country’s acting president.

The leaders also agreed to strengthen joint defense capabilities as they face a growing nuclear and missile threat from North Korea, the White House said in a statement.

The call — the first time Trump and acting President Hwang Kyo-ahn have spoken — offered much-sought reassurance to South Koreans nervous that the new U.S. administration might change longstanding policies toward the divided peninsula.  [Stars & Stripes]

You can read more at the link.

South Korea’s Acting President and Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn speaks with U.S. President Donald Trump over the phone at his office in Seoul on Jan. 30, 2017 in this photo released by the prime minister’s office. The two sides discussed a range of issues, such as ways to further enhance the South Korea-U.S. alliance. (Yonhap)

I doubt this phone call will be when President Trump will ask the ROK for more funding for the US-ROK alliance, but at some point I fully expect this issue will come up considering how he made this a central issue during his campaign:

South Korea’s Acting President and Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn will have a phone conversation with U.S. President Donald Trump this week, Hwang’s office said Sunday.

The bilateral talks — the first since Trump was sworn in as the 45th U.S. president on Jan. 20 — will begin at 9 a.m., Monday (Korea time).

The announcement came after Reuters reported, citing a White House statement, that Trump “will speak to the leaders of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and South Korea in separate calls on Sunday (Washington time).”  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link.

It seems the Blue House wants to get the THAAD missile defense system in place before the race to replace impeached President Park begins to make it a non-campaign issue:

Acting President and Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn said Wednesday that an advanced U.S. anti-missile system has to be deployed to South Korea as soon as possible to counter North Korea’s growing nuclear and missile threats.

Hwang made the remarks amid calls from opposition parties to delay the planned deployment of the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system to the Korean Peninsula given the lack of public consensus and China’s vehement opposition to it.

Seoul hopes to install a THAAD battery in the southern county of Seongju, 296 kilometers southeast of Seoul, by May next year.

“For security, (we) have to deploy (THAAD),” he said during a parliamentary interpellation session. “As we cannot wait even for a moment to cope with North Korea’s nuclear provocations, we have to do what we can do first.”  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link.

It is official President Park has been impeached:

The National Assembly passed the motion to impeach President Park Geun-hye over a corruption scandal, Friday.

Park was suspended from office at 7:03 p.m. immediately after the result was officially delivered to the presidential office, and Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn began working as acting head of state.

The President’s fate is now in the hands of the Constitutional Court, which is expected to make a ruling on whether the impeachment was valid in a few months.

Park is the second Korean president to be impeached after the late President Roh Moo-hyun in 2004. Roh was able to return to office thanks to wide public support after the Constitutional Court overturned the Assembly’s decision.

The impeachment motion, signed by 171 opposition and independent lawmakers, passed overwhelmingly with 234 in favor, 56 against, two abstentions and seven invalid votes in the 300-member Assembly. Pro-Park lawmaker Choi Kyung-hwan of the ruling Saenuri Party was absent.

This well exceeded the necessary approval of two-thirds of the 300 lawmakers required for its passage. [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link, but the most significant thing that has happened is that South Korea now has a new acting President which is Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn.

So who is Hwang?  His a 59 year old lawyer who worked as a state prosecutor for 30 years before entering politics.  He is well known for being a close confidant of President Park.  In 2013 he served as the Justice Minister for Park before becoming the Prime Minister in 2015.  ROK Heads may remember that back in July Hwang was detained by protesters outside of the selected THAAD site and pelted with eggs.

I doubt Prime Minister Hwang will make any major policy decisions because of his close ties to Park that could lead to widespread public protests.  That is why I think he will probably just be keeping the seat warm until the Constitution Court reviews the impeachment.  The last impeachment of a ROK President occurred in 2004 with President Roh Moo-hyun.  The Constitutional Court took 63 days to rule that the impeachment was not legal and he was reinstated.  Considering the widespread public outrage against President Park I doubt she will be reinstated.  However, the court has up to six months to rule on the legality of the impeachment.  If they rule the impeachment is legal then an election will be held 60 days after the ruling.  I think the conservative party will want this to drag on so they can select a candidate and organize a campaign to run against the Korean left wing parties who have taken maximum political advantage of the Park Geun-hye crisis.

It will continue to be interesting to see how this all plays out over the next few months.

Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn (C) and a group soldiers raise their fists in a gesture of solidarity as the prime minister visits a Marine Corps unit on Yeonpyeong, a western border island near North Korea, on July 10, 2015. (Yonhap)