Trump’s election victory has led to much speculation in South Korea that he will return to direct diplomacy with North Korea, target South Korean companies with trariffs, cause turbulence in the US-ROK alliance, and cause a drop in the Korean won. So what do ROK Heads think will happen on the Korean peninsula over the next four years with Donald Trump as President?
The latest manufactured scandal the Korean left is coming up with is that President Yoon helped to select someone in his own party to run for office:
Opposition parties have been intensifying their protest against President Yoon Suk Yeol and first lady Kim Keon Hee amid a swirling election meddling scandal surrounding the presidential couple and a political broker.
Their upgraded offensive, which even includes calls for Yoon’s impeachment, came as the president’s job approval rating plummeted to the lowest level since his inauguration in May 2022, at 19 percent.
The ruling party, however, is struggling to counter the offensive as new allegations involving the first couple — particularly Kim — continue to surface. The presidential office is reiterating its position that the first couple does not bear any legal responsibility even if the allegations are proven true, which falls short of public expectations for higher moral standards.
On Saturday, the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) held a large rally in central Seoul, demanding a special counsel bill to investigate allegations against Kim, including stock manipulation, her receipt of a luxury bag and interference in the party’s candidate nominations for the 2022 parliamentary by-elections and the April 2024 general elections.
You can read more at the link, this has always been the Korean left’s plan ever since Yoon was elected, make accusations real or imagined and then use the media to drive down his approval ratings to impeach him. It worked with former President Park Geun-hye and they are attempting the same playbook now. They are trying to turn this election operative Myung into Yoon’s Choi Soon-sil. Remember Park Geun-hye was impeached for abuse of power and that is the narrative the Korean left is once again attempting with Yoon.
It looks like the Korean left has found a new angle to go after President Yoon’s wife after all their previous efforts failed. This one seems pretty weak as well if the only evidence they have is a innocuous text message exchange with the First Lady and testimony from a disgraced pollster:
The presidential office flatly denied claims by an election broker Tuesday that he frequently communicated with President Yoon Suk Yeol and first lady Kim Keon Hee during Yoon’s campaign for the People Power Party (PPP) presidential nomination in 2021.
Myung tae-kyun, a shadowy figure who ran a public opinion polling agency, claimed in media reports that he met Yoon and his wife in June 2021 and advised them regularly for about six months until the end of the presidential primary in November of that year.
“It is an absurd claim that Myung spoke to the president and first lady on speakerphone every day for six months,” a senior presidential official said in a release.
The official also clarified that the text messages exchanged between Myung and Kim were part of a private conversation before Yoon joined the PPP in July 2021.
One message shows Kim saying, “Please forgive our brother (oppa in Korean) for speaking carelessly.”
The official explained that the “brother” referred to in the message was Kim’s biological brother, not Yoon.
Myung has been implicated in a political scandal involving allegations of the first lady’s interference in PPP candidate nominations ahead of the April general elections.
You can read more at the link, but if Myung was have speakerphone conversations every day for six months you would think he would have more evidence of such a close relationship.
It looks like Handbag-gate is officially over. The Korean leftists will need to find some other issue to try and jail the first lady for:
Prosecutors decided Wednesday not to charge first lady Kim Keon Hee in connection with her acceptance of a luxury bag from a Korean American pastor in 2022.
The prosecution announced the decision following a monthslong investigation into allegations that the first lady illegally received a Dior handbag worth 3 million won (US$2,275) and other expensive items from the pastor at her office in 2022 in exchange for favors.
Korean American pastor Choi Jae-young secretly filmed the meeting with a hidden camera, and the video was later published by an online news media outlet in November last year, prompting the main opposition party to push for a special counsel probe.
The Seoul Central District Prosecutors Office made its final decision Wednesday to clear Kim of charges that she violated the anti-graft law, concluding that the gifts she received were not related to President Yoon Suk Yeol’s official duties and that no favors were given in return.
You can read more at the link.
The Korean Democratic Party continues to show what a bunch of hypocrites they are:
Ruling People Power Party floor leader, Choo Kyung-ho left, speaks during the party’s Supreme Council meeting at the National Assembly in Seoul, Monday. Yonhap
The Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) has decided to actively respond to the prosecution’s ongoing bribery investigation involving former President Moon Jae-in, condemning it as a “petty act of political retaliation,” party members said Monday.
In strong opposition to the investigation, the main opposition party is considering forming a countermeasures committee. (……..)
“When former presidents Park Geun-hye and Lee Myung-bak were imprisoned, and numerous figures from the conservative camp were detained during the early days of the Moon Jae-in administration, the DPK fervently supported these actions, calling them ‘clearing deep-rooted evils.’ Now that they are the opposition, they label similar actions as ‘political retaliation.’ Few will sympathize with the party’s double standards,” Choo said.
The prosecution has been investigating allegations of a quid pro quo involving Moon’s former son-in-law, who was appointed to an executive position at a low-cost carrier founded by former lawmaker Lee Sang-jik despite lacking experience in the aviation industry.
The prosecutional inquiry is focused on whether this appointment was linked to former Rep. Lee’s appointment as head of the Korea SMEs and Startups Agency in March 2018 during Moon’s presidency. Moon’s son-in-law, surnamed Seo, was hired four months after Lee assumed leadership of the agency.
You can read more at the link.
You cannot put anything pass the Korean left, so them trying another impeachment scheme is definitely plausible:
The presidential office lambasted the main opposition Democratic Party (DP) on Monday for spreading false rumors about the government allegedly planning to declare martial law.
Presidential spokesperson Jeong Hye-jeon condemned DP leader Lee Jae-myung for raising the allegations during a live broadcast meeting with ruling People Power Party leader Han Dong-hoon on Sunday.
“We are appalled that the leader of a major political party would spread fabricated rumors on live television,” Jeong said in a press briefing. “If there is even a shred of evidence, please present it.”
Jeong questioned whether the DP is spreading the rumors as part of a broader propaganda campaign focused on the radical idea of President Yoon Suk Yeol’s impeachment, vowing to sternly deal with its attempts to manipulate public opinion with baseless claims.
“Is this part of a buildup to (Yoon’s) impeachment?” Jeong asked, adding that if there is no evidence, the DP should be labeled a “party of fake news.”
You can read more at the link, but what is even stupider about this claim from the opposition party is that if martial law is declared by Yoon, by law the national assembly can overrule it with a majority vote. Currently the opposition party holds the majority of the seats in the national assembly.
The shots that Kamala Harris recently made against Donald Trump demonstrates that her administration would just continue what the Biden administration has already been doing:
Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris has said she will not “cozy up to” dictators like North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, whom she cast as “rooting for” her Republican rival Donald Trump.
In her nomination acceptance speech in Chicago on Thursday, Vice President Harris took aim at former President Trump, who has long boasted about his personal ties with Kim, stressing she knows “where I stand” in the “struggle between democracy and tyranny.”
“I will not cozy up to tyrants and dictators like Kim Jong-un who are rooting for Trump,” she told a cheering crowd of Democrats on the fourth and final day of the Democratic National Convention.
“They know he is easy to manipulate with flattery and favors. They know Trump won’t hold autocrats accountable because he wants to be an autocrat himself,” she added.
The remarks reinforced expectations that Harris, if elected, could focus on working together with allies to bolster deterrence against North Korean threats while leaving the door open for dialogue with Pyongyang — largely in line with President Joe Biden’s approach.
You can read more at the link.
