Tag: Korean Government

Anyone surprised by this finding? I doubt anyone will be held accountable though:

The previous Moon Jae-in government fabricated key official data on housing prices, income distribution and employment for nearly four years to make the public believe that its real estate and economic policies are effective, the state audit agency said Thursday.

Moon’s presidential office Cheong Wa Dae and the land ministry instructed the Korea Real Estate Board (REB), a public agency affiliated with the land ministry, to make downward adjustments of weekly and monthly housing price fluctuation rates or manipulate statistics to make it appear as if real estate policies were effective on a total of 102 occasions from January 2018 to October 2021, according to the Board of Audit and Inspection (BAI).

The manipulation of official data was also widespread in the fields of income distribution and employment to conceal the negative consequences from widening income inequality and a surge in non-regular workers, the BAI said.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

The stock trading during work hours I think is fair criticism, but bringing up a school bullying claim from 2012 is ridiculous:

Adm. Kim Myung-soo, nominee of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) chairman, was grilled at his confirmation hearing in the National Assembly, Wednesday, over stock transactions he made while on duty including days when North Korea launched ballistic missiles.

According to Rep. Jung Sung-ho of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), Kim conducted 46 stock transactions from January 2022 until September this year, all during working hours. None were made during lunch breaks, the lawmaker pointed out, citing data submitted by the Korea Exchange (KRX).

Some of the transactions were made on Jan. 5 and 17, 2022, days when North Korea fired ballistic missiles toward the East Sea. Back then, Kim was a senior officer at the Ministry of National Defense.

Data revealed that Kim also conducted stock transactions on Sept. 8 this year, when North Korea unveiled its first tactical nuclear attack submarine. He was serving as the naval operations commander at the time.

During the confirmation hearing, Rep. Yoon Hu-duk of the DPK pointed out that a government official’s stock trading during work hours is subject to disciplinary measures. (…..)

The nominee was also questioned about his daughter’s school bullying allegations.

According to data submitted by the Busan Metropolitan City Office of Education to Rep. Ki Dong-min of the DPK, Kim’s daughter was one of six middle school students accused of assaulting a fellow student at a school restroom in 2012.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

President Yoon has named a new Defense Minister among other cabinet positions he announced changes for:

People Power Party Rep. Shin Won-sik leaves his office at the National Assembly on Yeouido, Seoul, Wednesday. Yonhap

President Yoon Suk Yeol on Wednesday named ruling People Power Party (PPP) lawmaker Shin Won-sik, former culture minister Yoo In-chon and former ruling party emergency committee member Kim Haeng as new defense, culture and family ministers, respectively.

The nominees are familiar faces in Korean politics, with Shin and Yu having the reputations of hardline conservatives. Pundits are saying this is in line with the conservative wing of Yoon, who has been stressing ideology and anti-communism ideas in recent public remarks.  

Korea Times

The North Korean regime and the South Korean leftists are really going to dislike Shin as the new Defense Minister since he is pro-strong ROK military and anti-Communist:

Shin is a retired three-star general and former deputy chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who has been spending most of his military career in key posts. During his discharge ceremony in 2016, Shin said the military should prepare for “unification through northern advancement,” meaning unification through toppling the North Korean regime. (……)

Shin is also one of the first people who triggered the ongoing controversies over assessing independence fighter Hong Beom-do, who was involved with the Soviet Communist Party, spearheading campaigns that resulted in Hong’s bust being removed from the Korean Military Academy. 

You can read more at the link.

It looks like President Yoon is actually trying to be a conservative who actually wants to reduce spending unlike U.S. conservatives who only seem to care about cutting spending when they are not in charge:

President Yoon Suk Yeol vowed Tuesday to stick to a sound fiscal policy, strongly criticizing the preceding Moon Jae-in government for increasing national debts with reckless spending.

Yoon made the remark during a Cabinet meeting, pledging to reject temptations of spending for political purposes, as the government proposed a national budget of 656.9 trillion won (US$495 billion) for 2024, the slowest on-year growth since 2005. 

“Due to the previous administration’s lax fiscal management, the national debts rose by 400 trillion won, and reached over 1,000 trillion won for the first time last year,” Yoon said in opening remarks at the Cabinet meeting. 

Thanks to his administration’s efforts to achieve fiscal soundness, Yoon said the growth of national debts has markedly slowed, and the government will continue to stick to a sound fiscal policy for the sake of external credibility and price stabilization.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

President Yoon gave some blunt advice to some new vice-governmental ministers:

Yoon gave the instruction during lunch with 13 new vice minister-level officials after presenting them with certificates of appointment, according to Lee Do-woon.

“Fight ruthlessly against cartels with vested interests,” Yoon was quoted as saying, repeating a mission he gave to several presidential secretaries last week after they were nominated as vice ministers.

“Our government is an anti-cartel government,” he said. “What topples a democratic society from the outside is totalitarianism and socialism, but what topples it from the inside is corrupt cartels.”

Yoon called on the new vice ministers to be loyal to the spirit of the Constitution, saying both domestic and foreign affairs should be conducted in the spirit of the liberal democratic Constitution.

“Be loyal to the state, the nation and the constitutional system,” he said. “I am not saying you should switch horses, but that you should ride your horses properly in the spirit of the Constitution.”

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

The opposition party controlled National Assembly has voted to arrest one of President Yoon’s PPP lawmakers. However, when the prosecution asked to indict opposition leader Lee Jae-myung for corruption they voted not to remove his immunity. Unsurprisingly there is a double standard going on here:

The National Assembly on Thursday voted to give parliamentary consent to the prosecution’s request to arrest ruling People Power Party lawmaker Ha Young-je on charges of receiving illicit political funds.

The motion was approved in a 160-99 vote in the National Assembly.

Ha has been under prosecution investigation on suspicion of receiving 70 million won (US$53,602) from a South Gyeongsang provincial council candidate ahead of last June’s local elections.

According to law, sitting lawmakers are immune from arrest while the parliament is in session. The prosecution must obtain parliament’s consent to detain lawmakers.

Yonhap

For people staying in Korea for longer than 90 days, they will be getting a new ID card:

The Ministry of Justice said Tuesday a new type of identification card will be issued to foreigners staying in South Korea for more than 90 days, starting on Saturday.

This is the first time in 12 years the ministry will introduce a new design for a Residence Card, formerly known as an Alien Registration Card.

A new Residence Card will feature a full-color photo of the holder that is 35 percent larger than the current version. The current design has a black-and-white photo of the holder. Also, the holder’s photo will be moved from the left side to the right.

Korea Herald

You can read more at the link.

If you want to be in the upper middle class of Korea a government job is a good way to go. However, I am willing to bet that much of their wealth is tied up in the high real estate prices in Seoul:

About one-third of the ranking public officials at the central government and state-run institutions have more than 2 billion won (US$1.5 million) in personal wealth, an annual government report showed Thursday. 

A total of 2,037 senior public officials declared an average of 1.94 billion won in personal assets as of the end of last year, with 31.3 percent holding assets worth over 2 billion won, according to the gazette compiled by the Government Ethics Committee.

It was compiled for the first time after last year’s presidential and local elections. 

By amount, 28.8 percent owned assets ranging between 1 to 2 billion won, followed by 18.8 percent whose assets were valued at 500 million won to 1 billion won and 17.1 percent whose assets were between 100-500 million won. Some 3.9 percent declared assets worth below 100 million won.

Seven in 10 officials said their assets increased from a year earlier, mostly due to a rise in property prices.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

This is likely the reason Lee Jae-myung sought leadership of the political opposition despite being a failed presidential candidate; so he could claim any charges against him were politically motivated:

The main opposition Democratic Party (DP) decided Wednesday to allow party leader Lee Jae-myung to retain his position despite his indictment on corruption charges. 

Earlier in the day, the prosecution charged him with bribery and breach of trust stemming from his time as mayor of Seongnam, south of Seoul, years ago.

Under Article 80 of the DP charter, the party is supposed to suspend those indicted on corruption charges from duty. But the rule does not apply when the indictment is deemed politically motivated. 

The DP’s party affairs committee convened after Lee’s indictment was announced, and made the decision to exempt Lee from suspension, according to DP spokesperson Kim Eui-kyeom.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.