Tag: Moon Jae-in

Ambassador Harris continues to upset the Moon administration, but what did he say was inaccurate?:

The office of President Moon Jae-in openly reproached U.S. Ambassador Harry Harris for his remark on Moon’s stated plans to resume inter-Korean cooperation, calling it “very inappropriate.”

“It’s very inappropriate for the ambassador to make such a mention for media over remarks by the president of the hosting nation,” a Cheong Wa Dae official told reporters.

The official stressed that inter-Korean cooperation is a matter to be decided by the South Korean government, although Seoul is “always” in close consultation with Washington in making constant efforts for substantive progress in inter-Korean ties and the early resumption of dialogue between the United States and North Korea.

A spokesperson at the U.S. Embassy declined to comment directly on the presidential aide’s remarks.

“We are aware of the comment,” he told Yonhap News Agency. “We have nothing to offer at this time, and would refer you to Ambassador Harris’ recent public comments.”

Harris reportedly urged Seoul to hold prior consultations with Washington in its pursuit of allowing its nationals to make “individual” tours of Mount Kumgang on North Korea’s east coast.

It’s “better” to run such an issue “through the working group” to avoid “misunderstandings” that might trigger sanctions, he reportedly told a group of foreign reporters here, referring to a working-level consultation channel between the allies on North Korea affairs.

His remarks were viewed by many as a thinly veiled warning and an attempt to put pressure on the Moon administration as it seeks to jump-start inter-Korean projects that are unaffected by U.N. sanctions on the communist neighbor in a bid to help facilitate Pyongyang-Washington nuclear talks.

Yonhap

Essentially all Ambassador Harris is telling them is that before they attempt to do any projects with North Korea they better work it through the U.S. or face violating sanctions. It is pretty clear what the Moon administration is trying to do is find a way to get around the North Korean sanctions and Ambassador Harris is calling them out on it publicly.

It will be interesting to see if the Trump administration responds to President Moon’s advocacy for South Korea to break international sanctions on the North:

President Moon Jae-in stressed the need Tuesday to expand inter-Korean cooperation, saying it could be conducive to drumming up international support for sanctions relief for the communist neighbor.

Speaking at his New Year’s press conference, he made it clear that South Korea will not sit idle waiting for Pyongyang-Washington dialogue to bear fruit.

“If (we) broaden cooperative ties between South and North to the maximum, it would not only facilitate North Korea-U.S. dialogue but also help win international support in connection with some exemptions or exceptions to sanctions on North Korea,” the president said.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but the term “inter-Korean cooperation” is code for restarting the Kaesong Industrial Park and Gumgang Resort tours which were both cash cows for the Kim regime. Essentially what President Moon is advocating for is continuing to fund the North Korean military machine with no reciprocal denuclearization agreement in place. Agreements like this is what allowed North Korea to become a nuclear menace in the first place and Moon wants double down on this policy.

This should be a surprise to no one that with the appointment of the new Choo Mi-ae as the ROK Justice Minister that stopping further investigation into the current government would be her first priority:

The Ministry of Justice abruptly reassigned prosecutors who have been investigating abuse of power and corruption allegations against key members of the Moon Jae-in administration and effectively demoted Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-youl’s closest aides. 

The ministry announced Wednesday evening that 32 senior members of the prosecution will be moved to new posts as of Monday. According to the ministry, 10 prosecutors were promoted to serve as heads of five high prosecutors’ offices and five district prosecutors’ offices, and the remaining 22 were reassigned to other jobs.

While prosecutors who have been working on high-profile cases involving Moon’s associates were moved to less important posts outside Seoul, prosecutors who had maintained amicable ties with the current administration or the administration of Roh Moo-hyun, the political mentor of Moon, were moved into powerful posts. 

According to the ministry, Han Dong-hoon, head of the anticorruption and organized crimes department of the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office, was named as deputy head of the Busan High Prosecutors’ Office. Han was the lead prosecutor in the investigations into academic and financial transgressions allegedly committed by former Justice Minister Cho Kuk and his family. 

Park Chan-ho, head of the public security department of the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office, was named head of the Jeju District Prosecutors’ Office. Park has been investigating the allegations that the Blue House abused its power to influence the 2018 Ulsan mayoral election and help a Moon associate win. 

Joong Ang Ilbo

Here is what prosecutors had to say:

“This is an overt attempt to dismantle the investigations [against the administration],” a senior prosecutor said. 

After Moon formally appointed Choo as justice minister last week, a massive reshuffle was expected. The announcement was made abruptly Wednesday evening.  

Choo left her office at the government complex in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi, around 4 p.m. Wednesday and headed to the Blue House, presumably to brief Moon about her plan. 

Two hours after Choo left the Blue House, the ministry announced the reshuffle around 7:30 p.m. “I have never seen a reshuffle announced after sunset,” said a prosecution official. 

Legal sources said the reshuffle was a political amputation of Yoon’s authorities. They said prosecutors loyal to the administration were appointed to the vacancies left by Yoon’s allies.

You can read more at the link, but when you hear the Korean left talk about prosecutor reform, this is the reform they are talking about. The next step will be having the prosecutors closely aligned with the Korean left begin investigating their political rivals.

It seems that the U.S. Ambassador would not be doing his job if didn’t ask if the ROK President is surrounded by North Korean sympathizers:

U.S. Ambassador to South Korea Harry Harris has become the center of criticism amid the rocky negotiations on determining Seoul’s share of the costs for the maintenance of the U.S. Forces Korea (USFK).

Multiple press reports have raised concerns about whether the ambassador is giving Seoul the level of respect it deserves as one of Washington’s indispensable Asian allies that shares the common objectives of maintaining peace and stability in the region. 

In particular, the U.S. envoy is said to have some “intentional misperceptions” about President Moon Jae-in, which may add to U.S. distrust of the South Korean leadership and government. 

This situation is an undesirable one with regard to bilateral relations, political analysts and lawmakers said Monday, as the two allies already have differing views over the definition of “fair and equitable defense costs.” There are also major differing viewpoints on a range of other security-related issues, such as the General Security of Military Information Agreement (GSOMIA) intelligence-sharing pact with Japan. Both of these issues have fueled concern among Moon’s critics that the Korea-U.S. alliance is not what it used to be.

A case in point fueling public discontent toward Harris was his meeting with a group of Korean lawmakers, Sept 23. According to reports quoting the lawmakers, Harris inquired about reports that Moon was surrounded by people with “leftist inclinations” who tended to side with North Korea. 

Korea Times

You can read more at the link, but like I have said in the past depending on how the North Korea issue and USFK cost sharing negotiations go, the Moon administration may turn to anti-Americanism. This may be an opening salvo in trying to shift Korean public opinion against the U.S.

I guess we will see if this leads to any resolution to the trade dispute between the two countries:

President Moon Jae-in said Tuesday he has had a “meaningful” meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe that could herald the start of dialogue for mending soured ties between Seoul and Tokyo.

Moon held an 11-minute conversation with Abe on Monday ahead of an ASEAN Plus Three summit in Bangkok, the first one-on-one talks in more than a year amid frayed ties.

“I’ve held a meaningful meeting with Abe that could be a start point for dialogue,” Moon said on his social media, wrapping up his three-day trip to Thailand for ASEAN-related summits.

The presidential office Cheong Wa Dae characterized it as a face-to-face conversation, neither a formal summit nor a “pull aside.” But Moon and Abe agreed to resolve pending issues via dialogue during a meeting held in a “very friendly and serious” mood, Cheong Wa Dae spokesperson Ko Min-jung said.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.