It is refreshing to hear a Korean president speak the truth about why the Japanese are increasing their military capabilities instead of demagoguing the issue for political benefit:
President Yoon Suk Yeol said Wednesday that Japan’s moves to bolster its defense capabilities are hard to stop in the face of the threat of North Korea’s missiles.
Yoon made the remark during a joint policy briefing from the foreign and defense ministers, referring to Japan’s recent increase in its defense budget and its inclusion of the “counterstrike” concept in its revised security documents.
“We can wonder how a country adopting a pacifist constitution can do such things, but if there are missiles flying over their heads and the possibility of a nuclear strike, it’s not easy to stop,” he said during the meeting at the former presidential compound of Cheong Wa Dae.
“Japan increased its defense budget because there are IRBMs flying over their heads, and decided to include the so-called ‘counterstrike’ concept in its defense plan,” he said, referring to intermediate-range ballistic missiles that North Korea fired over Japan. “How can anyone take issue with that?”
Yonhap
You can read more at the link, but DPRK apologists in the Korean left will take issue with anything the Japan does to defend themselves. At least the current Korean President is not one of them.
Via ROK Drop reader Korean Man comes this interesting article from Modern Diplomacy assessing that the impeachment of President Yoon next year is a possibility:
It is problematic to poke any other faults since Yoon has been running the country for a little over six months and has not had time to make any consequential decisions that could supply political ammunition against him. Blaming Yoon for the economic storm is risky as this could lead to questions about who had sowed the wind in the first place.
Technically, however, there is little to stop the Democrats from initiating the impeachment proceedings that could be announced if voted for by 200 out of 300 Members of Parliament and subsequently endorsed by the Constitutional Court. The Democrats already have 169 votes that could be beefed up to 200 by enlisting allies from other left-wing parties and Yoon’s enemies among the Conservatives like Lee Jun-seok’s faction. They have enough of their appointees in the Constitutional Court, and, as the Candlelight Vigil showed, public protests can be as effective as backdoor influence in terms of putting pressure on a public institution.
Lurking as yet another potential factor in the fray are the United States that may choose to assist in toppling President Yoon to replace him with a classic right-winger, given that the Democrats are as pro-American as the Conservatives anyway. If the United States are gearing up for a global confrontation, Washington would be better off with an amenable rather than pragmatic head of South Korean state.
Modern Diplomacy
You can read much more at the link, but it is very clear that the Democrat Party is trying to use the Itaewon crushing tragedy to attack the President with like they did the Sewol tragedy with former impeached President Park. However, they are not getting as much traction on Yoon as they hoped because his poll numbers continue to slowly rise after the tragedy. Also I am not sensing any unhappiness with President Yoon from the United States either so I don’t see any pressure on Yoon coming from that direction. As it is right now I don’t think impeachment will happen, but it is clearly the strategy I have been saying for weeks that the Democratic Party is trying to execute against President Yoon since the Itaewon crushing incident happened.
How did someone like this ever become a priest in the first place?:
A priest of the Anglican Church of Korea has been disqualified for openly wishing for President Yoon Suk-yeol’s plane to crash during his ongoing trip to Southeast Asia.
The Daejeon Diocese of the Anglican Church of Korea announced the disqualification of Father Kim Gyu-dong as a priest Monday after he called for a nationwide prayer for the crash of the presidential plane in his social media post.
President Yoon Suk-yeol accompanied by first lady Kim Keon-hee began a trip to Southeast Asia on Friday to attend the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and Group of 20 summits, and they are scheduled to return home Wednesday.
Kim recently uploaded a social media post about Yoon’s Southeast Asia trip, saying he wants the presidential plane to crash and wishes the entire nation would pray for the accident. Kim deleted the post later after his church was flooded with protests, explaining that the post was intended as a personal memo but was disclosed by mistake.
Yonhap
You can read more at the link.
This latest trip abroad for President Yoon has gone way better than his last one where he showed up late to Queen Elizabeth’s funeral and was caught using an expletive on a hot mic initially reported to be directed towards President Biden:
President Yoon Suk-yeol and first lady Kim Keon-hee briefly reunited with U.S. President Joe Biden at a gala dinner for world leaders in Phnom Penh the previous day, the presidential office said Sunday.
Yoon and Kim “met with U.S. President Joe Biden who entered the venue shortly after they arrived and happily exchanged greetings,” deputy presidential spokesperson Lee Jae-myoung said in a written briefing. “President Yoon and President Biden caught up with each other and fondly posed for photos.”
The couple also happily exchanged greetings with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and his wife, Yuko, Lee said.
The leaders are in Cambodia to attend regional summits involving the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. On Sunday, Yoon, Biden and Kishida are scheduled to hold bilateral and trilateral summits on the event’s sidelines.
Yonhap
You can read more at the link.
It will be interesting to see if the Biden administration tries to make any changes to the IRA to address Korean concerns:
U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris promised President Yoon Suk-yeol on Thursday that the United States will look for solutions to South Korea’s concerns about the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) as the law is implemented, the presidential office said.
Harris conveyed the position after Yoon reiterated South Korea’s concerns that the law will hurt Korean carmakers by giving tax credits only to electric vehicles assembled in North America, according to deputy presidential spokesperson Lee Jae-myoung.
“President Yoon delivered our concerns about the U.S. IRA, saying he hopes the two countries will closely cooperate to produce a mutually satisfying agreement in the spirit of the South Korea-U.S. free trade agreement,” Lee said during a press briefing.
“In response, Vice President Harris said not only she, but also President Biden, are well aware of South Korea’s concerns and will look into it carefully in order to find ways to resolve South Korea’s concerns in the process of the law’s implementation,” he said.
Yonhap
You can read more at the link.
The back and forth over President Yoon’s hot mic comments during his U.S. trip has become nothing more than partisan bickering at this point. With that said considering MBC’s past track record, it is very believable someone there would be willing to falsify President Yoon’s comments:
![Democratic Party Chairman Lee Jae-myung speaks at the National Assembly on Wednesday, where he said his party would seek to hold accountable those in the government responsible for a recent string of alleged diplomatic gaffes as well as a revision to the current limit on presidential terms. [YONHAP]](https://i0.wp.com/koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2022/09/28/9ed971f7-5449-4066-a5f9-a2d5eda4ac51.jpg?w=640&ssl=1)
The People Power Party (PPP) said Tuesday it will create a task force to investigate what it called “selective and biased” subtitling of President Yoon Suk-yeol’s hot mic moment in New York last week.
The PPP’s announcement came the same day that the Democratic Party (DP) made clear it would push ahead with plans to punish those in the government it deems at fault for what it has characterized as a gaffe-ridden presidential tour of Britain, the United States and Canada.
The dueling plans by the rival parties represent an escalation in the political spat over comments made by Yoon at a fundraiser in New York hosted by U.S. President Joe Biden. (…..)The comments could be heard in a video recording first released last week by MBC, or Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation. Some of Yoon’s remarks in the clip were drowned out by loud music and background noise.
Joong Ang Ilbo
Based on the broadcaster’s subtitles, Yoon was speaking about Biden losing face if he didn’t get congressional approval for something. Initial reports said he was referring to Biden’s pledge to contribute another $6 billion to the Global Fund, which would require U.S. Congress approval.
The PPP, led by floor leader Joo Ho-young, alleges that MBC distorted the president’s remarks.
“MBC basically incorporated tabloid speculation as subtitles for the president’s words,” Joo said at a gathering of all the party’s lawmakers at the National Assembly on Tuesday. “We believe that MBC violated basic journalistic ethics, including fact-checking, in its report,” he added.
Earlier, the presidential office denied that Yoon was referring to members of the U.S. Congress when he used the expletive, saying that he was actually talking about members of Korea’s National Assembly.
The PPP has already filed a libel lawsuit against MBC President and CEO Park Sung-jae, reporters and other relevant individuals for alleged disclosure of false information.
They argued that the report harmed Korea’s “national interests” and demanded an apology from MBC and its CEO’s resignation.
You can read more at the link.
President Yoon says that reports of him using a cuss word to describe the U.S. Congress is untrue:
President Yoon Suk-yeol said Monday that untrue media reports of his remarks caught on hot mic damaged South Korea’s alliance with the United States in his first response to the controversy.
Last week, Yoon was caught on video making a remark privately to aides in New York that appeared to include vulgar words. Though the recording was not clear due to noise, many thought Yoon was talking about U.S. Congress and U.S. President Joe Biden.
But Yoon’s office rejected the claim, saying he was referring to South Korea’s opposition-controlled National Assembly without mentioning U.S. Congress or Biden. Yoon’s ruling People Power Party also claimed people misheard Yoon’s remarks because the video had a subtitle misrepresenting them.
“Damaging the alliance with untrue media reports would be putting people in danger,” Yoon told reporters, adding that how such incorrect reports have circulated should be clearly verified.
Yonhap
You can read more at the link, but I guess the Korean National Assembly is the expletives that Yoon was referring to, so everyone should feel better about his remarks?
