President Moon has quickly changed his mind about helping the Yoon administration move the Presidential office:
President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol talks with President Moon Jae-in during their meeting at Cheong Wa Dae, Monday. Yonhap
President Moon Jae-in said he will “cooperate” with President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol’s plan to relocate the presidential office, Monday, during their first meeting that came 19 days after the presidential election on March 9.
“President Moon said the decision over the location of the presidential office is fully up to the incoming government,” Yoon’s Chief of Staff Rep. Chang Je-won said during a press briefing held after the meeting. “As an outgoing president, he said he will thoroughly look into the budget related to the relocation plan and cooperate with the president-elect.”
His remarks came days after the two sides had clashed over Yoon’s bid to set up a new presidential office at the defense ministry compound in Seoul’s Yongsan District, and begin his presidency there. Moon had earlier dismissed Yoon’s proposal to finance his presidential office relocation plan from the state reserve fund.
It appears the reason that Yoon Suk-yeol is asking President Moon to pardon former President Lee Myung-bak when Yoon could just do it himself when he takes office is to promote national reconciliation. If that is what Yoon wants to promote have Moon give out the pardon to the man he personally went after to humiliate and put in jail is a very symbolic way of doing this:
This file photo, taken July 25, 2019, shows President Moon Jae-in (R) presenting new Prosecutor General Yoon Suk-yeol with a letter of appointment at the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae. Yoon, the presidential candidate of the main opposition People Power Party, who won South Korea’s presidential election on March 10, 2022, is set to take office on May 10 and serve a single five-year term. (Yonhap)
President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol will hold a one-on-one lunch meeting with President Moon Jae-in on Wednesday with no aides in attendance for a “heart-to-heart” discussion, his spokesperson said.
Yoon plans to use the meeting to ask for a special pardon for imprisoned former President Lee Myung-bak, spokesperson Kim Eun-hye told reporters during a press briefing. Lee has been serving a 17-year prison term for embezzlement and bribery.
“The meeting will serve as an occasion where they can hold a heart-to-heart discussion,” she said. “President-elect Yoon has long thought that he would ask for a pardon for former President Lee Myung-bak, and we hope this meeting will serve as a chance for national unity and reconciliation.”
Multiple sources in Cheong Wa Dae and the ruling bloc said chances are high that Moon will pardon Lee.
It will be interesting to see if President Elect Yoon moves forward with this campaign promise or not because he will get huge push back from not only protesters, but likely from the media as well:
Women’s rights activists called on President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol to withdraw his campaign pledge to close down the Ministry of Gender, Equality, and Family.
Meanwhile, Yoon reconfirmed his intent to keep the campaign promise, Sunday, as he said the ministry “has fulfilled its historical calling.”
On the future of the ministry, Yoon said, “We should plan a more effective government branch to deal with injustice, human rights violations, and protection of people’s rights more effectively.
This should be a very interesting meeting considering how much Moon and Yoon reportedly dislike each other:
In this file photo, a group of former lawmakers holds a news conference near the presidential office in Seoul on Jan. 24, 2022, calling for the release of former President Lee Myung-bak. The 81-year-old is serving a 17-year sentence for embezzlement and bribery convictions at the Anyang Correctional Institution, 23 kilometers south of Seoul. (Yonhap)
President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol is likely to ask President Moon Jae-in to grant a special pardon to jailed former President Lee Myung-bak when they hold a meeting this week, a senior official close to Yoon said Monday.
Moon and Yoon are scheduled to meet at the presidential office of Cheong Wa Dae on Wednesday, according to political sources.
They will discuss a range of issues, including government transition, coronavirus responses and North Korea’s likely long-range missile test, during the meeting, which will be their first since June 2020, when Yoon was prosecutor general, they said.
You can read more at the link, but it is probably going to be a tough sell to pardon Lee Myung-bak who the Korean left despises for investigating former president Roh Moo-hyun. The investigation uncovered corruption around Roh who ended up committing suicide. The Korean left has long blamed Lee for the suicide and investigating him and putting him in jail was a form of payback.
It looks like Ahn Cheol-soo’s reward for ending his campaign and supporting Yoon Suk-yeol is that he will get to have a big vote on who joins the new government:
This composite photo shows People’s Party chief Ahn Cheol-soo (L), who was named the chairperson of the presidential transition committee, and Rep. Kwon Young-se of the People Power Party, who was appointed as the vice chairperson. (Yonhap)
President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol named his candidacy merger partner Ahn Cheol-soo chairman of the transition committee Sunday, making the first step to take over the administration and set the agenda for the next five years.
Yoon also tapped his campaign chief, Rep. Kwon Young-se of the People Power Party (PPP), as vice chairperson of the committee, and appointed former Jeju Gov. Won Hee-ryong, who served as policy chief of the campaign, as the committee’s planning chief.
Ahn, who heads the minor People’s Party, dropped out of the presidential race at the last minute to support Yoon under a candidacy merger deal. The two said at the time that they will work together in forming the transition committee and the government.
“We share the same values and philosophy about running state affairs,” Yoon said of Ahn’s appointment at a press conference at the PPP headquarters in Seoul. “Ahn has a will to lead the committee and I also believe he is the right person.”
It will be interesting to see what Ahn gets in return for joining the campaign of Yoon wins the Presidency. They do seem like quite the odd couple to be joining campaigns:
Ahn Cheol-soo, the chairman of the minor opposition People’s Party (left), looks at Lee Jun-seok, the chairman of the major opposition People Power Party extending his hand for a handshake, at the March 1 Independence Movement Day commemoration event on Tuesday. (Yonhap)
People Power Party Chairman Lee Jun-seok on Friday dismissed rumors of a co-chairmanship with Ahn Cheol-soo as various rumors about Ahn‘s next steps arose since his stepping out of the race.
Ahn, the chairman of the minor opposition People’s Party, conceded his candidacy to the People Power Party’s Yoon Suk-yeol on Thursday. There were rumors about Ahn‘s next moves, including one about him possibly becoming a co-chairman of the main opposition once the two parties merged after the election.
As local reports raised the possibility of Ahn undertaking a co-chairman position in the merged party, Lee dismissed the idea, saying he has not considered such an option.
It seems like the Korean left is getting desperate with the Presidential election just days away by comparing Yoon to Trump:
Presidential candidate Yoon greets his supporters in Seocho District, Seoul on Tuesday. (The National Assembly’s photo press corps)
Is Yoon Suk-yeol the South Korean Trump?
That is what his opponents and critics seem to think for the many parallels the conservative candidate from the People Power Party has with former US President Donald Trump.
Both have made remarks that would be offensive to other countries, praised heavily controversial political figures, gone after foreigners and shown a poor understanding of feminism. On top of using anti-China rhetoric, the two also like to speak to their base on social media and announce policies that read like slogans. For example, Yoon’s “Abolish the Gender Equality Ministry” could be compared to Trump’s “Build the Wall.”
With just a week left before the election, the long list of similarities between the two outsiders who came to represent their respective countries’ mainstream conservative parties seems to be only growing.
Many voters in Korea seem to believe the March 9 presidential election is about the liberals and whether they should be allowed to stay in power after major missteps like their housing policies. But experts who talked to The Korea Herald said it may be about K-Trumpism, or the rise of the alt-right movement in Korea, as seen in the United States, United Kingdom and some other democracies around the world.
You can read more at the link, but this opinion piece also claims that the election of Yoon would be a blow to democracy. Notice how if a conservative wins its always a blow to democracy with the left? Just like Trump was voted out in 2020 there will be an election again in five years if Yoon some how wins this upcoming election. Democracy will continue in South Korea.
I don’t know what point Sim Sang-jung as trying to make because it appears she wants the ROK to not pursue new weapons programs because it would upset North Korea and China? If Ukraine did not have advanced anti-tank and aircraft weapons right now they would have already lost the war. Is this what Ms. Sim wants for the ROK if attacked? If anything should be learned from Ukraine it is that the ROK needs to be militarily advanced and have strong friends to deter the threats from China and North Korea:
South Korean presidential candidate and National Assembly lawmaker Sim Sang-jung attends a meeting of Justice Party officials in South Korea, Dec. 27, 2021. (Justice Party of South Korea)
South Korea could become “the Ukraine of Asia” in the event of conflict between its ally the United States and its neighbor China, the progressive candidate for South Korean president said during a recent televised debate.
Sim Sang-jung, a National Assembly lawmaker and a former leader of the minority Justice Party, explained her vision for South Korea’s foreign policy on Friday as Russia continued its invasion of Ukraine. Sim and three other candidates are competing in the election March 9.
In her remarks, Sim compared South Korea’s relationships with China and the United States to the ongoing instability in Eastern Europe. Seoul’s relations with Beijing are experiencing a “breakdown,” and talk by other candidates of bolstering South Korea’s weapons programs may cause “considerable tension on the Korean Peninsula,” Sim said during the debate.
“We should learn from what happened in Ukraine now,” she said. “So, to speak, we can be the Ukraine of Asia when some strategic balance in northeast Asia collapses.”
Not smart of Lee Jae-myung to be insulting President Zelenskyy who maybe the most popular leader in the world right now:
Lee Jae-myung, the presidential candidate of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea, participates in a TV debate on SBS in Seoul, Friday. Yonhap
Lee Jae-myung, the presidential candidate of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), has made an apology for his remarks about Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in a TV debate Friday regarding the cause of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which drew a backlash both here and abroad.
“Unlike my intentions, if my words caused misunderstanding to Ukrainians, I lacked the ability to express myself well,” Lee wrote on Facebook, Saturday, adding that his remarks were mainly aimed at pointing out the ill-founded diplomatic and security views of his main rival Yoon Suk-yeol of the People Power Party rather than disparaging the Ukrainian president.
During the TV debate held, Friday, Lee said a novice politician with six months of political experience had become the country’s leader and caused a major clash by inciting Russia with a hasty promise regarding Ukraine’s admission into NATO. (……….)
Denouncing Lee as an international embarrassment, Yoon said he would make an apology to Ukraine on behalf of South Korea, citing posts critical of Lee’s remarks that have been uploaded on Reddit, a popular American online community.
Lee Jae-myung is using the current war in Ukraine to claim the same thing can happen in Korea if Yoon Suk-yeol is elected:
Democratic Party of Korea presidential candidate Lee Jae-myung, left, bumps fists with People Power Party candidate Yoon Suk-yeol before their fourth TV debate at broadcaster SBS’ studio in Sangam-dong, Seoul, Friday. Joint Press Corps
Rival presidential candidates of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) and the main opposition People Power Party (PPP) clashed over their differing views of the lessons of Russia’s attack on Ukraine during their TV debate, Friday. The DPK’s Lee Jae-myung stressed a leader’s diplomatic capability, while the PPP’s Yoon Suk-yeol highlighted military deterrence to facilitate peace on the Korean Peninsula.
“A novice politician who only has six months of political experience became the country’s leader and caused a major clash by inciting Russia with a hasty promise of Ukraine’s NATO admission,” Lee said of Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who was an actor and comedian before he was elected as the country’s leader in April 2019.
“This is an example of a diplomatic failure. Yoon is too aggressive and rough in his diplomatic remarks, such as his pledge to establish South Korea’s capability to launch preemptive strikes (against North Korea).”
Lee’s comment came after Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Sunday. Along with international condemnation of Russia’s moves, criticism is also mounting over Zelenskyy’s diplomatic miscalculation, which is being blamed for steering his country towards a clash with Russia.
Here is how Yoon responded to Lee’s remarks which criticized his attempts to sign an end of war declaration with North Korea:
On the other hand, PPP candidate Yoon criticized Ukraine’s reliance on diplomatic agreements to maintain peace and emphasized the importance of military power and strong alliances to guarantee national security.
“You can only prevent war when you have the capability for preemptive strikes and have the intent to do so … I believe the case of Ukraine shows that you cannot protect national security and peace with paper and ink,” Yoon said, referring to the Minsk agreements or a series of pacts that sought to end fighting with Russia-backed separatists in the Donbas region of Ukraine.
“Candidate Lee and the current DPK administration stress the importance of an end-of-war declaration with North Korea, which will be done only on paper with ink. With North Korea refusing to give up its nuclear program, pushing forward the end-of-war declaration is the same as the case of Ukraine.”
You can read more at the link, but if Yoon really wanted to hit Lee even harder he should of mentioned how Ukraine gave up their nuclear weapons in exchange for security guarantees back in the 1990’s. Look how that paper and ink agreement worked out for them. Does anyone really think that North Korea will abide by any paper and ink agreement as well?
