Tag: Korean Government

Opposition Party to Demand a Special Investigator After Appointment of Cho Kuk to Justice Minister

President Moon’s political opposition is going to play out the Cho Kuk saga as long as they can for maximum political benefit prior to next’s year’s national assembly elections:

Cho Kuk

“South Korea’s democracy is dead. We plan to use all available cards responding to President Moon’s nomination of Cho to the justice minister position including a plan to team up with minor opposition parties to submit requests to name a special investigator to look into Cho’s alleged corruption and nepotism allegations,” a spokesman at the main opposition Liberty Korea Party (LKP) said in a party commentary after the President’s confirmation of Cho, Monday afternoon.

The minor opposition Bareunmirae Party (BMP) said it will discuss action plans with the LKP. “Floor leaders of the country’s major political parties were discussing detailed plans for the next Assembly sessions, but I received a short phone call from senior presidential secretary for state affairs Kang Ki-jung in which he said President Moon appointed Cho as justice minister as planned. It’s simply unacceptable. We will do what we can do but other lawmakers oppose the President’s decision,” BMP floor leader Rep. Oh Shin-hwan said during a hurriedly arranged party meeting.

Korea Times

It is actually good politics to keep Cho Kuk in the headlines because this is what his current poll ratings are:

In a poll by local pollster Realmeter released last week, 56.2 percent of South Koreans respondents were opposed to Cho becoming justice minister, while 40.1 percent were in favor.

The ruling DPK are facing a key election next year, which would be critical for Moon to avoid “lame duck” status. The South Korean leader is facing challenges to diffuse an uncertain outlook for the country’s export-dependent economy, which this year is projected to expand at the weakest pace in more than a decade. 

However, with Cho Kuk being appointed, I expect we will start seeing less of him in the headlines and this will just fade away down the memory hole like the Moon administration expects it too.

For example does anyone mention Foreign Affairs Minister Kang Kyung-hwa’s ethical lapses any more? It will be the same thing with Cho Kuk.

University of Seoul Professor Recommends that Seoul Confirm the 1965 Treaty Between Korea and Japan

Here is what Chung Jae-jeong, professor emeritus at the University of Seoul has to say about the current trade dispute between Korea and Japan.

Q: Since the Supreme Court ruling, has Seoul given the impression that it may be disregarding the 1965 pact?

A: There is a high possibility that Japan takes this view. Seoul says that it is addressing the insufficiencies of the 1965 pact, but from Japan’s point of view, all issues regarding compensation were completely resolved with the deal. The Korean government has only said it respects the ruling, and has not given clear explanations about the discrepancy between the 1965 pact and the Supreme Court ruling. There has not been any statement from the foreign minister or the President declaring once and for all that Seoul does not deny the pact. If this position was declared through an official channel, it could help to assuage the considerable level of concern Japan has. This will facilitate negotiations on how to resolve the current disputes. Abe and the Japanese foreign minister have continued to demand Korea “keep state-to-state promises and treaties.”

Q: If the President were to make such a declaration, the Korean public may see it as a humiliation and get the impression that we are succumbing to Japan’s demands. 

A: I think we as a country have passed a stage where we approach state-to-state conflicts emotionally. They should be handled with professional judgment and knowledge. 

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

Professor Chung recommends that a third party arbitrator be used to resolve this issue, but this is whole is issue is about driving anti-Japanese sentiment for future elections not resolving it, so the Moon administration will continue to down play the 1965 Treaty.

ROK Foreign Ministry Criticized for Leaking Phone Conversation Between Presidents Moon and Trump

It appears the ROK foreign ministry is not very good at keeping state secrets:

Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has come under fire once again for an ethical lapse among its staff after a diplomat leaked information from a telephone conversation between President Moon Jae-in and U.S. President Donald Trump. 

Cheong Wa Dae and the ministry are considering legal action against the 54-year-old diplomat for allegedly leaking the confidential information to Rep. Khang Hyo-shang, a lawmaker from the main opposition Liberty Korea Party (LKP).

The diplomat, working at the South Korean Embassy in Washington, D.C., is suspected of sharing some key details of the Moon-Trump phone conversation with his high school alumni Khang, the day after the two leaders held talks. 

The presidential office said the diplomat admitted to the incident. 

“The telephone conversations between leaders of two countries are identified and categorized as the third-highest level of state diplomatic secrecy,” a senior presidential aide told reporters in a briefing, Thursday.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

President Moon’s Economic Advisor Fired After Telling Unemployed Koreans that They Need to Leave the Country

This is probably not the economic advice that most Koreans want to hear, that they need to leave their country and move to Southeast Asia:

Kim Hyun-chul

President Moon Jae-in’s economic adviser Kim Hyun-chul resigned Tuesday after drawing public ire for saying that young, unemployed Korean language graduates who can’t find a job here should stop blaming “Hell Joseon” and move to Southeast Asia to become Korean language teachers.

Hell Joseon is a term often used to describe how tough Korea can be on its students and graduates looking for jobs amid fierce competition.

Kim, who also teaches international marketing at the Seoul National University Graduate School of International Studies, made the remark on Monday in a speech to local CEOs at a luncheon hosted by the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry in central Seoul. The gathering was meant to promote the New Southern Policy, Moon’s ambitious vision of expanding Korea’s influence in Southeast Asia with the promise of treating members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) as diplomatic and economic partners as important to Korea as the United States, China, Japan and Russia. 

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link.

President Moon Fires His Finance Minister and Chief Policy Advisor

The economy is continuing to slump in South Korea and President Moon appears to be trying to show he is doing something to address it:

Hong Nam-ki, chief of the Office for Government Policy Coordination, speaks to reporters at his office on Nov. 9, 2018, after his nomination as the new finance minister. (Yonhap)

President Moon Jae-in sacked the finance minister and his chief policy adviser Friday after the two top economic policymakers openly displayed a serious rift over how to handle the slumping economy.

Moon named Hong Nam-ki, an economic technocrat who is currently serving as chief of the Office for Government Policy Coordination under the Prime Minister’s Office, to replace Kim Dong-yeon as finance minister and deputy prime minister for economic affairs, Cheong Wa Dae said.

Moon also sacked Jang Ha-sung, presidential chief of staff for policy, and named his senior social affairs secretary Kim Soo-hyun to succeed him. Jang is the architect of Moon’s trademark “income-led” growth policy.

Kim and Jang have publicly displayed wide differences over how to revitalize the sluggish economy, with Kim voicing a need to alter the “income-led” growth policy and Jang insisting on sticking to the distribution-centered policy.

Their replacement was seen in part as aimed at revamping the economic team as they failed to produce tangible results in revitalizing Asia’s fourth-largest economy. Their sacking was also seen as a measure to hold them responsible for failing to work in concert with each other.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link.

Prosecutors Raid Home of Former South Korean Supreme Court Chief

It looks like the Moon administration has found another governmental figure from the former Park government timeframe to go after:

Prosecutors Secure Ex-Supreme Court Chief's USB Flash Drive in Judicial Power Abuse Probe

Prosecutors have obtained a USB flash drive belonging to former Supreme Court Chief Justice Yang Sung-tae as part of their probe into the judicial power abuse scandal.The Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office said Monday its investigators seized Yang’s flash drive from his residence the day before, containing documents that could link him to the top court’s alleged collusion with the previous Park Geun-hye government.

While the court had only issued a search warrant for Yang’s automobile, prosecutors were able to seize the thumb drive as the warrant allowed them to search other places where they were certain to find evidence subject to seizure.During Sunday’s raid, Yang and his lawyer are reported to have told prosecutors the USB flash drive which the former chief justice carried with him after his retirement last year was stored inside his study.

Prosecutors suspect Yang was in charge of the Supreme Court’s various power abuses, such as using politically sensitive trials as bargaining chips to win favor with the administration and creating a slush fund from lower court budgets. [KBS World Radio]