I don’t think this is a smart political decision because Koreans I think have hit their limit on lockdowns and restrictions:
Ruling Democratic Party presidential nominee Lee Jae-myung meets with locals at a traditional market in the southeastern city of Pohang on Dec. 13, 2021. (Yonhap)
Ruling Democratic Party presidential nominee Lee Jae-myung asked the government on Tuesday to immediately tighten social distancing rules to curb the surge in coronavirus infections.
Lee issued the call in an “emergency statement” read by a spokesperson at DP headquarters, saying “it is time to take special measures beyond an all-out response.”
“Regrettably, we need to pause the return to normal temporarily,” he said, referring to the loosening of virus restrictions that began under a government initiative last month.
Lee said small business owners should be compensated in advance for the losses they are likely to suffer under the tightened rules.
Details of the strengthened measures should be determined in consultation with health authorities and experts, the spokesperson, Park Chan-dae, said.
The ruling party’s candidate for President Lee Jae-myung is doing what left wing politicians always do, promise spend a lot of money:
Gyeonggi Gov. Lee Jae-myung, named presidential candidate of the ruling Democratic Party Sunday, vowed to adopt universal basic income if elected, claiming that he would turn South Korea into the world’s first nation offering the subsidy package, even to the wealthy.
In his acceptance speech on Sunday, Lee highlighted his “basic agenda package,” which is expected to be the backbone of his economy policy if elected president. The package consists of a universal basic income plan, a basic housing program and a basic loan scheme, but has immediately sparked divided responses from onlookers for its impact on the economy and lack of resources.
The universal basic income scheme, under Lee, would provide all Korean citizens annual cash subsidies of at least 250,000 won ($209.16) from 2023. Koreans aged between 19 to 29 would start receiving an annual 1.25 million won each from 2023.
Lee plans to ultimately raise the bottom line to 1 million won within his years in office.
You can read more at the link, but I wouldn’t mind these heavy spending proposals so much if these politicians would be honest and also explain what taxes would be raised to pay for it.
Presidential candidate for ruling party Gyeonggi Gov. Lee Jae-myung gives his acceptance speech after winning the ruling Democratic Party’s nomination for president during a primary event at SK Olympic Handball Gymnasium in Seoul on Oct. 10, 2021, in this photo by the National Assembly press corps. (Yonhap)
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:
This photo provided by the National Assembly press corps shows Rep. Kim Gi-hyeon (C), floor leader of the People Power Party, speaking to a party meeting on Oct. 5, 2021. (Yonhap)
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.
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’s popularity as a presidential hopeful continues to grow:
This composite file photo shows former Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-youl (L) and Gyeonggi Province Gov. Lee Jae-myung, two leading candidates for the next presidential election. (Yonhap)
Former Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-youl saw his support rating reach a fresh record high in the latest poll of potential presidential candidates released Thursday, amid signs of his imminent political debut.
In the Realmeter survey on 2,013 voters nationwide conducted from Monday to Tuesday, 35.1 percent picked Yoon as their most favored candidate for next year’s presidential election, up 4.6 percentage points from last month.
It is the highest support that Yoon has received in Realmeter’s monthly poll, outnumbering the previous high of 34.4 percent tallied in March.
Gyeonggi Province Gov. Lee Jae-myung, affiliated with the ruling Democratic Party (DP), came in second with 23.1 percent, losing 2.4 percentage points of support compared to last month.
This is another example of how Korea’s libel laws are used to attack people for political reasons. In this example they were used by the Moon administration to attack a liberal political rival for the Presidency:
Gyeonggi Province Governor Lee Jae-myung talks to reporters in front of his office in Suwon, Thursday morning. / Yonhap
Gyeonggi Province Governor Lee Jae-myung will be able to retain his position after the Supreme Court sent his case back to an appeals court, Thursday, which had previously found him guilty of violating the Election Law.
The ruling also cleared the way for Lee to pursue a presidential bid on the ruling Democratic Party of Korea’s (DPK) ticket in 2022.
In a 7-to-5 vote, the court ruled that he had not violated the Election Law.
“The law can’t punish Lee Jae-myung for disseminating false information (at the debate) unless he actively declared the false claim was a fact. Some of Lee statements in the debate were simply made to deny claims made by his opponent and this cannot be seen as a deliberate act to disseminate false information…,” Chief Justice Kim Myeong-su ― who wrote for the majority ― said during the session which was televised on TV and livestreamed on YouTube. (………..)
The governor was indicted last December for having his older brother forcibly committed to a psychiatric care facility in 2012. The prosecution also claimed he violated the Election Law by lying about the brother in a nationally televised debate with other election candidates in 2018.
You can read more at the link, but the libel laws were also used to go after his wife as well for posting supposed false information on Twitter. She was previously cleared of the allegations as well. Could you imagine if in the U.S. politicians and their supporters could be charged for libel for giving false information on Twitter and during debates? We would have no politicians left.
Anyway this is just an example of how clever and ruthless the Moon administration was to win the Presidency. ROK Heads may also remember that they got Ban Ki-moon to drop out of the race by using what he called deliberate “fake news” against him. With Ban and Lee out of the race Moon then had a clear path to the Presidency after former President Park’s impeachment.
Charges of libel from Twitter messages from the wife of Gyeongi province Governor Lee Jae-myung have been dropped, but it appears unsurprisingly that Governor Lee was the primary target of the prosecutors all along:
Gyeonggi Province Gov. Lee Jae-myung will stand trial for telling falsehoods about a series of allegations raised against him and about his family during his election campaign for the governorship. The Suwon District Prosecutors’ Office indicted Lee without physical detention on charges of violating the national election law, it said. Lee has been under investigation for allegedly lying about his brother’s institutionalization due to a mental illness during his campaign in the runup to the June local elections. He denied when he appeared on TV debates as a governor candidate that he had used his authority as the then Seongnam mayor to have his now-deceased brother institutionalized against his will. The governor also faced accusations after an actress claimed she had an extramarital affair with Lee. Prosecutors decided to not press any charges against Lee, citing insufficient grounds. “It’s what I expected. I’m not baffled,” he told reporters following the prosecution announcement. Lee also hinted that he would not give up his seat over the indictment and will fight the matter in court. “I still am a proud member of the Democratic Party. I will do my utmost to not cause any more trouble for the party,” he said
You can read more at the link, but Governor Lee was a major rival to current President Moon Jae-in during the last election. The Moon administration has effectively eliminated him now as a future political rival.
Here is the latest on the Moon administration’s attempt to take out another political rival using South Korea libel laws:
Kim Hye-kyung, wife of Gyeonggi Gov. Lee Jae-myung, emerges from an interrogation by prosecutors for a lunch break on Tuesday. [YONHAP]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.
Prosecutors on Tuesday raided Gyeonggi Province Gov. Lee Jae-myung’s office and home, apparently to search for his wife’s old mobile phone believed to hold crucial evidence in investigations into her suspected role in political slander.
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.
Kim, who is suspected of posting slanderous messages on social media sites via her mobile phone, changed her iPhone and phone number in April and told police investigators later that she was not aware of its whereabouts. [Yonhap]
You can read more at the link, but what is ironic about this is that the Moon administration hushed up far worse conduct in the Druking Scandal that they are now going after a political rival’s wife for.
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]
