Tag: Yoon Suk-yeol

It is official now that the Presidential office is moving to Yongsan:

President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol on Sunday announced a decision to move the presidential office from Cheong Wa Dae to what is now the defense ministry building several kilometers away, saying he wants his office to move out of a “symbol of imperial” presidency and get closer to the people.

The decision is highly symbolic as Cheong Wa Dae has been used for decades as the presidential office and residence, though its secluded location and the way the president’s work office is located away from those of aides sparked criticism it causes the president to be out of touch with the public.

Yoon said he will move into the defense ministry compound in Seoul’s central district of Yongsan immediately after his inauguration on May 10. On the same day, Cheong Wa Dae will be fully opened to the public, he said.

The defense ministry will move into the Joint Chiefs of Staff building in the compound, he said.

Yonhap

There is going to be some offices dislocated from the Defense Ministry that has the Democrat Party lodging complaints about national security:

Yoon admitted that some of the current occupants, including the defense ministry and the Joint Chiefs of Staff, will have to make partial relocations to make room for the presidential office.

He dismissed the notion that moving their offices will create gaps in national defense, a charge that has been leveled by some lawmakers of the ruling Democratic Party. Yoon belongs to the main opposition People Power Party.

I find it interesting now that the Democratic Party is now concerned about national security after years of advocating for appeasement of North Korea.

It also appears the closure of Yongsan Garrison also played into this decision:

Above all, he stressed the advantages of its proximity to a planned national park.

“Starting this year, the (land of the) surrounding U.S. military base is expected to be returned in stages, which will allow us to swiftly construct Yongsan Park, use the defense ministry building as an office and commune and communicate with the people,” Yoon said.

You can read more at the link, but this move does now make it more likely Yongsan will be turned into a park instead of just more apartment towers.

It looks like US-ROK exercises will go back to Key Resolve and UFG level and diplomacy with Japan will be enhanced if I am reading the tea leaves correctly from President-elect Yoon’s recent statements:

South Korean President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol vowed Thursday to strengthen strategic alliance with the United States, build a strong national defense to deter North Korean provocations and pursue a future-oriented relationship with Japan, hours after winning the nation’s closely contested presidential election. (…..)

He promised to reconstruct South Korea-U.S. alliance and strengthen comprehensive strategic relationship with Washington by sharing the core values of human rights, market economy and human rights.

Earlier, Yoon talked with U.S. President Joe Biden on the phone prior to his visit to the Seoul National Cemetery and they affirmed strong bilateral alliance and close cooperation, according to PPP officials.” (…….)

In relations between South Korea and Japan, it is important to find out what will be beneficial to both countries and to the people of both countries in the future rather than in the past,” the president-elect said.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but Yoon has promised to respond “sternly” to any illegal North Korean actions or provocations with the international community. It is almost certainty based on that statement that North Korea is going to launch some provocation to test Yoon once he is President.

Congratulations to Yoon Suk-yeol on winning an extremely close ROK Presidential election:

Yoon Suk-yeol of the main opposition People Power Party (PPP) was elected as Korea’s next president early Thursday morning, narrowly beating his liberal rival.    
   
Yoon, the first former prosecutor to be elected as president, stressed a message of national unity and cooperation with the opposition in a speech at the National Assembly in Yeouido, western Seoul, shortly after his victory was ascertained.    
   
In Korea’s closest presidential election, frontrunners Yoon and Lee Jae-myung of the ruling Democratic Party (DP) were neck-and-neck in exits polls Wednesday evening, making a victor too close to call nearly all the votes were tallied around 4 a.m. Thursday.  
   
At 4:05 a.m., with 98.15 percent of the ballots counted, Yoon earned 48.59 percent of votes, effectively confirming his victory in the 20th presidential election. Lee received 47.8 percent of votes, just 0.8 percentage points less than Yoon.   

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link, but it will now be interesting to see what position Ahn Cheol-soo receives because it is arguable that his coalition with Yoon put him over the top to win the Presidency.

Additionally we will need to wait and see what the reaction from North Korea will be. Considering Yoon’s hardline rhetoric towards North Korea during the campaign it seems the Kim regime is likely to go bigger on whatever provocation they have planned. There has been reports of North Korea preparing for a nuclear test so this could be their response if preparations are complete. If not another ICBM or other missile tests would be a near term way for them to respond to Yoon’s election.

It seems like the Korean left is getting desperate with the Presidential election just days away by comparing Yoon to Trump:

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. 

Korea Herald

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 care how many windmills you make, it will never equal the energy output that nuclear power can generate. It seems more and more countries are realizing this especially as the world turns more to electric cars:

 Main opposition presidential candidate Yoon Suk-yeol on Monday vowed to scrap the current Moon Jae-in government’s nuclear phase-out policy, saying he will make South Korea a powerhouse in nuclear power generation. 

“I will recover the ecosystem of nuclear power generation and advance safe nuclear technologies so that they can become a core engine to drive the country,” Yoon of the People Power Party wrote on his Facebook page. 

Yoon emphasized that it is a global trend to use nuclear power generation along with other energy sources to reduce carbon and lessen the dependence on foreign countries for energy, adding that even the European Union Taxonomy recently labeled nuclear power as green energy. 

“French President (Emmanuel) Macron reversed his words of ‘nuclear-phase out’ five years ago and declared ‘U-turn to nuclear power,'” Yoon said. “After nuclear phase-out, Italy lost its energy power and became a country that imports the most electricity in Europe.”

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Yoon Suk-yeol’s wife has absolutely been getting hammered during this Presidential campaign and here is the latest example:

Musician An Chi-hwan’s newly-released rock number, “Lady Who Looks like Michael Jackson,” has caused presidential hopeful Yoon Suk-yeol to fume with rage, as the song allegedly satirized the main opposition People Power Party (PPP) candidate’s wife, Kim Keon-hee, who, facing multiple allegations of misconduct, has been at the center of a number of scandals in the lead-up to the March 9 election. 

The song incensed Yoon, as it mocks his wife, Kim Keon-hee.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

Leave it to Korea’s leftists to claim that if Yoon Suk-yeol wins the South Korean presidency that it would be anti-democratic and a coup d’etat by the Korean right:

Professor Emeritus Byun Hyung-yoon of Seoul National University along with 130 members of a civic group calling for the formation of a democratic reform government stated on Jan. 28 that “an ahistorical and antidemocratic force is attempting to overturn the times,” adding that “citizens of the candlelight movement of 2017 who devoted themselves to ensure the survival of Korean democracy today should step forward again and protect [democracy] through their votes.” (………….)

Kim Dong-chun, a professor at Sungkonghoe University, recently posted the following message on Facebook: “From the very outset, Moon Jae-in and the Democratic Party were little prepared and had no blueprint for bringing about proper change in this society. Nevertheless, we mustn’t allow them to be defeated by the People Power Party and reactionaries.

We may not like Moon, but that’s no reason to cynically go along with a reactionary coup d’etat. As for the zeitgeist in the presidential election, we’re unfortunately past the stage of discussing that. We have to stop the coup.”Some will no doubt dispute Kim’s view that putting another party in power through an election is a coup d’etat. Coup or not, we have to persuade the public if we’re to stop it.

Hankyoreh

You can read more at the link, but this opinion piece in the Hankyoreh gives people an idea of how the Korean left thinks, if they win elections it is democratic, but if they lose its an undemocratic coup.

The real question is whether the U.S. military wants or needs another THAAD battery in South Korea considering it is a very finite asset:

Main opposition presidential candidate Yoon Suk-yeol pledged Sunday to deploy additional units of the U.S. THAAD anti-missile system in South Korea following North Korea’s launch of an intermediate-range ballistic missile earlier in the day.

Yoon of the conservative People Power Party wrote the words “Additional THAAD deployment” on his Facebook page and did not elaborate.

The candidate has previously expressed support for the controversial missile defense system, which China has condemned as a threat to its national security.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Here is the latest attempt to bring down Yoon Suk-yeol’s campaign through criticisms of his wife:

The latest fodder emerged Sunday during MBC TV’s airing of recordings of phone calls between Yoon’s wife, Kim Keon-hee, and a reporter for a liberal YouTube channel, in which Kim claimed she was a “spiritual” person who preferred discussing the meaning of life with “dosas,” or gurus, to visiting nightclubs.

Kim’s remark received attention because she has previously been reported to have close ties to shamanism and introduced certain shamans to her husband.

Then, local newspaper Segye Times reported Monday that a shaman introduced by Kim has been exercising undue influence over Yoon’s campaign while working as an adviser for a subunit named “Network Headquarters.”

The PPP scrambled to dispel the allegations, saying the person in question is not a shaman but a Buddhist figure who has made several visits to the campaign but has never been appointed an adviser nor had any sway in the campaign.

On Tuesday, the party announced the dissolution of the Network Headquarters, saying the decision was made by Yoon.

When asked to address the claims, Yoon expressed disbelief.

“I was introduced to him by a party official and we introduced ourselves, but I know him to be a monk,” the candidate told reporters Monday. “I saw the article about (him being involved in) my schedule and public messaging, but it’s a truly absurd story.”

Yoon’s opponents have likened his wife to Choi Soon-sil, a confidante of former conservative President Park Geun-hye, who was also accused of having ties to shamanism and running state affairs from behind the scenes.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but the comparison to Choi Soon-sil is ridiculous when Choi was essentially a lobbyist collecting money from Samsung for her sports foundation in return for influence over then President Park. The shamanism claims was just sensationalism added to the story by the media. What is going on now with the claims against the Yoon campaign is likely the same thing. With that said his Kim Keon-hee needs to be careful what she says to the media because they will use anything she says in or out of context to damage her husband’s campaign.