Tag: South Korea

This does sound extremely far fetched and likely an attempt by some YTN reporter to draw attention to themselves:

The presidential office denied reports Wednesday that two people close to former President Moon Jae-in are under consideration for the next prime minister and presidential chief of staff.

Broadcasters TV Chosun and YTN reported that President Yoon Suk Yeol is considering tapping former SMEs Minister Park Young-sun for prime minister and Yang Jung-chul, former head of the Institute for Democracy, a think tank under the main opposition Democratic Party, as his chief of staff.

“Appointing people such as former Minister Park Young-sun and former Institute for Democracy chief Yang Jung-chul, which has been reported by certain news outlets, has not been considered,” the presidential office said in a notice to the press.

Park served as minister under the former liberal president, while Yang is known as one of Moon’s closest confidants.

The reports come as Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, presidential chief of staff Lee Kwan-sup and most senior presidential secretaries have submitted their resignations to take responsibility for the ruling party’s crushing defeat in last week’s parliamentary elections.

According to sources in political circles, Yang told people close to him that he thinks the reports are “farfetched.” (……)

“It’s an absurd story,” a senior presidential official told Yonhap News Agency.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

I have to imagine that even the Japanese diplomats in Seoul must get tired of having to justify the Japanese position on Dokdo. The islets are clearly Korean territory and are not going to be given up. The Japanese government continuing their public posturing over Dokdo continues to be an unnecessary thorn in otherwise improving bilateral relations:

Taisuke Mibae, the deputy chief of mission at the Japanese Embassy in Seoul, enters the South Korean foreign ministry building in Seoul on April 16, 2024, after being summoned over Tokyo’s renewed territorial claim to Dokdo. (Yonhap)

South Korea “strongly” protested against Japan on Tuesday after Tokyo issued an annual diplomatic report renewing its territorial claims to the South’s easternmost islets of Dokdo.

To lodge a protest over the report, South Korea’s foreign ministry called in Taisuke Mibae, the deputy chief of mission at the Japanese Embassy in Seoul.

The claim, strongly disputed by South Korea, which has long maintained effective control of Dokdo with the permanent stationing of security personnel there, was included in the 2024 Diplomatic Bluebook that was reported to the Cabinet by Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa.

In this year’s report, Japan continued to claim that Dokdo is Japanese territory historically and under international law, and that South Korea is carrying on with an “illegal occupation” of the area.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

I wonder if there has ever been a political party formed with its main goal of revenge against a sitting President’s wife?:

Cho Kuk, the leader of the Cho Kuk Innovation Party, which caused a sensation in the April 10 general elections, has continued his “half-yoon” (half-yoon Seok-yeol) stance every day.

On the 15th, CEO Cho said on his social networking service (SNS), “Tensions are rising in the president’s office and within the prosecution over the position of the next Seoul Central District Prosecutor’s Office,” adding, “Tensions and dark battles are unfolding between high-level prosecutors in Yoon Line.” Loyalty to President Yoon Suk Yeol and his position on handling allegations related to Geom Gun-hee are the key criteria for selection.

“President Yoon is looking for someone who will act as a brazen shield for himself and his spouse, who are destined to become a ‘dead-duck’ soon, and wield a more ruthless sword against his political opponent,” he said. “President Yoon’s interest in running state affairs, which is close to zero, is now all about himself and his spouse.”

On the 11th, Chairman Cho Kuk and proportional winners of the Cho Kuk Innovation Party held a press conference in front of the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office in Seocho-dong, Seoul, and said, “I warn the prosecution for the last time. He also shouted, “Investigate Kim Gun-hee.”

On this day, he voiced his strong voice, saying, “I will propose the Kim Gun-hee Special Prosecutor Act at the 22nd National Assembly.”

Maeil Kyeongchae

You can read more at the link, but ROK heads may remembe that when Cho was the Justice Minister for former President Moon, the then Chief Prosecutor Yoon Suk-yeol indicted Cho’s wife. Cho’s wife was later convicted for document forgery in an effort to get their daughter into medical school. She was sentenced to four years in prison before getting paroled after about 1.5 years in jail. Their daughter would have to later give up her medical degrees as well.

So now Cho Kuk is back with his own political party that performed well in last week’s parlimentary elections. He is using his new political power to go after President Yoon’s wife over the dubious handbag scandal and try and put her in jail.

It is interesting that with all the talk of global warming from the Korean Democratic Party, it is President Yoon from the Korean conservative party who has actually done more to cut carbon emissions. I have always said that any global warming person who doesn’t advocate for the use of nuclear power is not serious in their beliefs and this just proves it:

As the Yoon Suk Yeol government significantly increased the proportion of nuclear power generation, its dependence on fossil fuels fell significantly. Dependence on fossil fuels has become lower than during the Moon Jae In government, which implemented a policy of de-nuclearization to reduce carbon emissions. Attention is focusing on how strongly the Democratic Party of Korea, which won a landslide victory in the general election, will push for the restoration of its policy on denuclearization, which it had promised.

According to the Korea Electric Power Corporation on the 15th, nuclear power accounted for 30.2% of the total power generation in the two years since the inauguration of the Yoon Suk Yeol government until last year. This is an increase of 3.7 percentage points from the previous Moon Jae In administration, which was only 26.5 percent. The share of renewable power generation also rose 2.8 percentage points from 7.6% during the Moon administration to 10.4% during the Yoon administration.

Maeil Kyeongchae

You can read more at the link.

For South Korea, a regional war that disrupts their energy supplies from the Middle East would be devestating to their economy. This is true for many other countries as well, which is wahy Israel is probably under enormous pressure right now to not retaliate for the attack on their country this weekend:

President Yoon Suk Yeol on Sunday presided over an emergency meeting to discuss the economic and security impact of heightened tensions in the Middle East following Iran’s recent missile and drone strikes against Israel, his office said.

The meeting was held to discuss the global security and economic situation following the latest Mideast crisis and its impact on South Korea’s economy and security, it added.

Noting the growing uncertainty of the global economy arising from the geopolitical instability in the Middle East, the participants agreed to keep close tabs on the impact on the international oil prices and exchange rate movements and to respond quickly to its effect on the economy, including supply chains.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

President Yoon needs to figure out how to decrease inflation and improve Korea’s overall economic outlook. I think that is what what voters were telling him with this election defeat for his political party:

President Yoon Suk Yeol has vowed to reform state affairs to reflect people’s will following the ruling party’s crushing defeat in the parliamentary elections, the presidential office said Thursday. 

“I will humbly accept the will of the people expressed in the general election, and will strive to reform the administration and do my best to stabilize the economy and enhance people’s livelihoods,” Lee Kwan-seop, presidential chief of staff, quoted him as saying during a press conference.

Prime Minister Han Duck-soo as well as three senior presidential aides, including Lee, offered to step down to take responsibility for the election defeat, according to the office.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but expected grid locked government for the next three years of Yoon’s term because he will need help from the DPK to get any legislation approved. This very unlikely to happen considering the hostile relationship between Yoon and the DPK’s leader Lee Jae-myung.

If all these countries join it makes me wonder of the AUKUS is turning into a Pacific version of NATO to counter China:

The United States, Britain and Australia are considering South Korea, Canada and New Zealand as potential partners for cooperation on advanced capability projects of their AUKUS security partnership, a senior U.S. official said Tuesday.

The remarks came a day after the defense chiefs of the three countries issued a joint statement noting their consideration of Japan as a partner for Pillar II projects of the partnership.

Launched in September 2021 in an apparent move to counter China’s assertiveness, AUKUS consists of two key pillars. Pillar I is to support Australia in acquiring conventionally armed, nuclear-powered submarines, while Pillar II is for cooperation in high-tech areas, including quantum computing, artificial intelligence and hypersonics.

“The AUKUS partners are considering a range of additional partners who may bring unique strengths to Pillar 2, including the ROK, Canada and New Zealand, in addition to Japan,” the official said in response to a question from Yonhap News Agency. ROK stands for South Korea’s official name, the Republic of Korea.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but China is of course complaining about this announcement. If China would quit trying to forcibly take over other nation’s territory there would be no need for AUKUS in the first place.