Tag: South Korea

The longer this is taking I think shows that a majority of the judges is currently against impeachment or still undecided with their decision:

The Constitutional Court’s deliberation on the motion to impeach President Yoon Suk Yeol is taking longer than expected, as more than three weeks have passed since hearings ended in late February.

Deliberations in the impeachment cases of former presidents Park Geun-hye and Roh Moo-hyun concluded within two weeks.

Although Justice Cheong Hyung-sik, who presides over the case, stressed in December a speedy ruling on the case of Yoon and his short-lived martial law imposition, the court bench has yet to announce the date for its final verdict as of press time. The court typically announces verdict dates at least two or three weekdays in advance, meaning without an announcement Wednesday, it will likely be delivered next week. (………..)

A majority opinion of at least six of eight justices is required to uphold an impeachment.

Kim Seon-taek, a professor of law at Korea University who specializes in constitutional law, said the amount of time it was taking suggested a lack of consensus among the justices.

Korea Herald

You can read more at the link.

As long as this cable car boom is focused on high traffic mountains and not every mountain in South Korea I really don’t have a problem with it. Anyone who has rode the cable car at Seoraksan for example knows they need another cable car up that mountain with its incredibly long lines:

South Korea is experiencing a cable car boom.

Of the 41 cable cars currently operating nationwide, 17 have been built in the past five years, according to the Korea Transportation Safety Authority.

Yeosu, a coastal city in South Jeolla Province, serves as a model demonstrating the benefits of a successful cable car installation.

The city opened the Yeosu Maritime Cable Car in 2014, which was the first marine cable car in South Korea and links the mainland with Dolsando just across the water.

Drawing visitors to the spectacular views of the coastline and surrounding islands from the cable car, the city has attracted more than 13 million visitors annually, which led to a revitalization of the tourism industry, city officials said.

Wonju, Gangwon Province, is also hoping to duplicate Yeosu’s success with its newly launched Sogeumsan Cable Car. This area already has the nation’s longest pedestrian bridge, which stretches 200 meters across a canyon.

Korea Herald

You can read more at the link, but of course the environmentalists are upset about the cable cars impacts on wildlife and forests.

Accordingto the article this person was terminated from their position, I would prefer that this person be sitting in a jail cell instead:

 A U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) contractor employee was terminated after attempting to board a flight to South Korea with export-controlled information on nuclear reactor design software, a report showed Monday.

Idaho National Laboratory (INL), one of the DOE’s national laboratories, terminated the person during the reporting period from Oct. 1, 2023 through March 31 last year, the DOE report to Congress said, as questions persist over why South Korea was placed on the DOE’s “Sensitive and Other Designated Countries List (SCL)” in early January.

The information in question is proprietary nuclear reactor design software owned by INL. The DOE’s Office of the Inspector General (OIG) conducted a search of the employee’s government email and chat history showing the employee’s knowledge of export control restrictions and communications with a foreign government. 

“This is an ongoing joint investigation with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Homeland Security Investigations,” the report said.

Hours earlier, Seoul’s foreign ministry said that South Korea’s placement on the SCL was because of a security issue related to a DOE-affiliated research institution rather than a foreign policy matter.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

It makes sense that senior U.S. officials will want to keep their distance from Korea to not create the appearance of trying to influence the current impeachment uncertainty one way or the other:

The Pentagon on Friday reaffirmed America’s “ironclad” commitment to the South Korea-U.S. alliance and vowed to maintain the “fight tonight” readiness posture with the Asian ally, after Seoul was excluded from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s upcoming trip to the Indo-Pacific.

The decision to exclude South Korea from the Pentagon chief’s first Asia swing since taking office in January came amid lingering speculation that a period of political uncertainty, caused by President Yoon Suk Yeol’s impeachment over his martial law attempt in December, would have a negative impact on the allies’ security cooperation.

“While we have no travel details to announce today, our ironclad commitment to the alliance remains clear,” Pentagon Press Secretary John Ullyot said in response to a request for comment by Yonhap News Agency.

He suggested that security cooperation between Seoul and Washington continues unimpeded.

“Freedom Shield 25 is currently underway, and it strengthens the role of the alliance as the linchpin of regional peace and security. The USS Carl Vinson also visited the peninsula this month and conducted operations with ROK forces,” referring to the allies’ ongoing annual military exercise. ROK is short of South Korea’s official name, the Republic of Korea.

“We will continue to maintain a ‘fight tonight’ readiness posture with our ROK allies,” he said.

Hegseth is said to be planning to visit Hawaii, Guam, Japan and the Philippines in what would be a high-profile trip to underscore the Trump administration’s commitment to the Indo-Pacific in the face of China’s growing assertiveness and North Korea’s recalcitrance.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Here is an interesting ruling from the Constitutional Court that these four officials impeached by the DPK controlled National Assembly should be reinstated:

The Constitutional Court of Korea on Thursday dismissed the National Assembly’s impeachment motion against Choe Jae-hae, who had been suspended from his duties as chair of the Board of Audit and Inspection, and three prosecutors, reinstating them immediately to their positions.

Thursday’s rulings were seen as a potential indicator of how the court might approach key issues in President Yoon Suk Yeol’s impeachment trial, including his claim that the main opposition party has obstructed state affairs by impeaching key administration officials.

The court had yet to announce the date for Yoon’s verdict as of Thursday afternoon.

Yoon has argued several times during his trial that the main opposition Democratic Party’s attempts to impeach these four officials were among the reasons behind his decision to declare martial law, claiming that a succession of impeachments of high-ranking officials has paralyzed state affairs.

Korea Herald

You can read more at the link.

Korea is a country where judges tend to factor in public sentiment when making decisions. That is why you see both the DPK and PPP trying hard to court public opinon against and for Yoon before the court’s impeachment decision:

Police buses surround the Constitutional Court in central Seoul, Wednesday, to prevent violent clashes as a verdict on President Yoon Suk Yeol’s impeachment nears. Yonhap

As political gridlock deepens over the impeachment of President Yoon Suk Yeol, meaningful policy debate has all but vanished from Korea’s political landscape.

Following Yoon’s sudden release from detention last week ahead of the Constitutional Court’s ruling, both the ruling and opposition parties have escalated their rhetoric, with loud protests now dominating the National Assembly. With the Assembly’s role as a national representative body increasingly sidelined, concerns are mounting that the growing partisan conflict will not only undermine the court’s decision but further destabilize the country, according to experts.

The ruling People Power Party (PPP) said Wednesday that it would not directly confront the opposition’s escalating street protests calling for Yoon’s impeachment.

“If serious issues arise, the PPP will take collective action, just as the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) has. However, we will not resort to street protests or hunger strikes to pressure the Constitutional Court, as the DPK is doing. Instead, we will express our stance through official parliamentary channels,” PPP floor leader Kweon Seong-dong told reporters at the National Assembly in Seoul.

However, the conservative party’s decision appears to be driven more by political strategy than policy concerns. The party seems cautious that organizing an official rally could give a platform to the more extreme voices within Yoon’s support base, potentially alienating centrist voters, whose support is already fragile.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

If the Korean government changes this regulation will this lead to the Korean leftists to start another mad cow crisis like what happened in 2008?:

The U.S. nationwide cattlemen’s group asked the Trump administration Tuesday to help lift South Korea’s import ban on American beef from cattle aged 30 months or older, noting that similar curbs have been lifted in China, Japan and Taiwan.

The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) sent its comments to U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Jamieson Greer as the USTR has requested those comments to “assist in reviewing and identifying unfair trade practices, and initiating all necessary actions to investigate harm from non-reciprocal arrangements.”

The age restriction on U.S. beef was put in place in 2008 amid fears over mad cow disease, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but the violent mad cow riots in 2008 has to rank up there as one of the most ridiculous anti-US protests ever in Korea. The 2000 Yongsan Water Dumping Incident protests are probably the only ones more ridiculous than the mad cow riots.