Tag: politics

This is the largest conservative protest I can remember in quite some time if the 50,000 number is accurate:

The main opposition Liberty Korea Party (LKP) took to the streets Saturday to launch an all-out protest against a joint move by ruling and other rival political parties to fast-track key bills, including an electoral reform.
LKP legislators and party members, wearing red T-shirts with the message, “We will fight till the end” written on them, gathered in central Seoul’s Gwanghwamun Square for the demonstration.
The LKP put the estimate of attendees at Saturday’s rally at 50,000. 
LKP leader Hwang Kyo-ahn took the podium and made a resounding speech lashing out at the liberal Moon Jae-in government and the ruling Democratic Party (DP) as those who “try to use the fast-track to their own advantage” so as to gain an upper hand in next year’s parliamentary elections. 
“We’re waging a fair struggle so as to derail this barbaric fast-track action,” he said.
LKP floor leader Na Kyung-won also had her turn at the podium, condemning the move as “an act by the leftists that gravely undermines parliamentary democracy and the Constitution.”

“The leftists are trying to wipe out this country’s free democracy. They have humiliated the National Assembly that represents our people,” she shouted. “The electoral (reform) bill is a tool they need to extend their terms in power for as long as they want.”
Four parties, not including the LKP, agreed Monday to a package deal to fast-track bills on electoral reform, the establishment of a special unit to investigate alleged corruption by high-ranking public officials and enhancement of the police’s authority to conduct probes.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but if the 50,000 number is true the conservative protests are getting larger, but I believe that only if they get over 100,000 does it mean that the general South Korean public is turning on the Moon administration.

Just another example that South Korea does not have freedom of speech, especially when the ruling party is looking for anything to deflect attention from their various scandals:

 The ruling Democratic Party (DP) and three rival parties said Monday they will seek to punish three lawmakers of the main opposition party over their controversial comments allegedly disparaging a 1980 pro-democracy uprising.
The four parties said they will file a petition against three Liberty Korea Party (LKP) lawmakers with the parliamentary special committee on ethics on Tuesday over their conduct with the goal of stripping them of their parliamentary seats.
Representatives Kim Jin-tae, Lee Jong-myeong and Kim Soon-rye have come under fire for holding a public hearing last week, inviting a far-right figure who has claimed that North Korean troops were involved in the pro-democracy uprising in the southwestern city of Gwangju in 1980.
Two of them also made controversial remarks allegedly disparaging the democracy movement, with one claiming that a riot was turned into a pro-democracy uprising by people with political purposes.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

According to the Blue House there is nothing to see here, move along:

President Moon Jae-in’s secretary for civil affairs said Monday that the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae has not surveilled civilians for political purposes, shrugging off a former investigator’s spying claim.
Controversy has flared up after Kim Tae-woo, a former special investigator at the presidential office, made the revelation that he had collected information, including info about civilians and former bureaucrats who should not be subject to Cheong Wa Dae surveillance.
Surveillance of civilians has been a sensitive issue in South Korea as former conservative governments were blamed for illegally spying on citizens for political purposes.
Cho Kuk, Moon’s top secretary for civil affairs, and Chief of Staff Im Jong-seok flatly rejected Kim’s claim at a meeting of the parliamentary steering committee that oversees Cheong Wa Dae. Kim was under Cho’s supervision.
It marked the first time since 2006 that a presidential secretary for civil affairs spoke at the parliamentary panel.
The revelation came after Kim was forced to return to his original post at the prosecution last month over an allegation that he sought to influence a police probe into a corruption case involving his acquaintance.
“The bottom line is that as Kim has become almost certain to face disciplinary actions due to his irregularities, he crafted a rare hoax by distorting the due work process into a political issue and trying to cover up his misconduct,” Cho told lawmakers.
The presidential civil affairs team under the Moon government has not surveilled civilians or drawn up blacklists (of people critical of the government) unlike other previous administrations),” he stressed.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Here is the latest on the Moon administration’s attempt to take out another political rival using South Korea libel laws:

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.

It is interesting that the authorities are going after the wife of a political rival for allegedly spreading rumors online, but a coordinated online opinion rigging scandal for the President of Korea they quietly let go away:

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]

The Moon admin's political suppression in the name of "jeokpae cheongsan" (elimination of deep rooted evil) continues. Its target #1 is Park Seung-chun, former Minister of Veterans & Patriots. He was found not guilty on 5 charges. So now they set up comttee to investigate again. https://t.co/VmhGwfmBux

— Tara O (@DrTaraO) October 17, 2018

Trading away our national security & that of our allies for a short-term political advantage. Which it is, because Pyongyang isn't disarming. https://t.co/YYEj7uqPwL

— Joshua Stanton (@freekorea_us) October 7, 2018

The Moon administration is trying to get South Korean conservatives to attend the Inter-Korean Summit later this month in Pyongyang:

The presidential office Cheong Wa Dae on Monday asked the parliamentary speaker and heads of all five political parties in South Korea to accompany President Moon Jae-in on his upcoming trip to the North.

The invitation came from Moon’s chief of staff Im Jong-seok, who currently heads a summit preparation committee.

The Moon-Kim summit is set to be held in Pyongyang from Sept. 18-20.

“The preparation committee for the 2018 Pyongyang summit seeks to invite National Assembly Speaker Moon Hee-sang and vice speakers … as special parliamentary delegates,” Im told a press briefing.

The heads of all five major political parties, including Lee Hae-chan of the ruling Democratic Party and Kim Byong-jun of the main opposition Liberty Korea Party (LKP), have also been invited.

Those invited also include Rep. Kang Seok-ho of the main opposition party, who currently serves as the chairman of the parliamentary committee on foreign affairs and unification.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link, but the South Korean conservatives have declined the invitation calling it a political stunt:

The LKP criticized the government’s proposal as a “political tactic.” The party’s interim chief Kim Byung-joon refused to accept the invitation. The National Assembly speaker’s office said the speaker would also not be part of the delegation.

Only the minor liberal party for Democracy and Peace and the most-progressive Justice Party accepted the invitation, alongside the DPK.  [Korea Times]

President Moon needs to have his third Inter-Korean Summit hurry up and happen this month so he can get some more smiling pictures with Kim Jong-un to improve his rapidly dropping approval rating.  It dropped another six points this week because of economic woes:

A new survey finds President Moon Jae-in’s job approval rating has slipped below 50 percent for the first time.

Gallup Korea surveyed one-thousand adults nationwide, out of which 49 percent of respondents said the president is doing a good job. That’s down four percentage points from last week when the figure posted a new low.

It marked the first time for the president’s approval rating surveyed by Gallup Korea to stand in the 40 percent range.

Among those who had positive opinions about Moon’s performance, 16 percent picked improved relations with North Korea as the reason for giving a positive evaluation. Some eleven percent cited Moon’s North Korea and security policies while ten percent said they think the president gives his best and works hard.

Meanwhile, 41 percent of those who had a negative view about the president’s job cited lack of progress in addressing economic and livelihood issues as the reason for their evaluation. Some eight percent pointed at inter-Korean ties and seven percent at the minimum wage hike.   [KBS World Radio]

President Moon’s approval rating is still very high at 58%, but it has dropped nearly 20 points in the past three months which has to be worrying:

President Moon Jae-in’s approval rating dipped to a record low of 58 percent, the first time the president’s popularity fell below the 60 percent level since he took office in May 2017.

In a poll conducted by Realmeter between Monday and Wednesday of 1,507 adults nationwide, support for Moon declined by 5.2 percentage points to 58 percent from 63.2 percent a week earlier amid controversy over minimum wage hikes that have hurt small business owners and seemingly depressed new hiring across the country.  [Joong Ang Ilbo]

You can read more at the link, but I wonder what President Moon’s approval rating will be once the Kim regime reneges on its promise to denuclearize?