20 years is the sentence the Moon administration prosecutors are recommending that former President Lee Myung-bak be given if convicted of the corruption allegations against him:
Former President Lee Myung-bak enters the Seoul Central District Court in southern Seoul to attend his corruption trial on Sept. 6, 2018. (Yonhap)
Prosecutors on Thursday requested that a Seoul court sentence former President Lee Myung-bak to 20 years in prison for corruption and other charges.
The demand was delivered to the three-judge panel at the Seoul Central District Court in Lee’s trial that began in early May. Prosecutors also called for a 15 billion-won (US$13.4 million) fine and a forfeiture of 11.1 billion won for the disgraced ex-leader.
The court’s ruling is scheduled for Oct. 5.
Lee, president from 2008-2013, was indicted in April on 16 counts of corruption ranging from bribery, abuse of power and embezzlement to other irregularities. He has been under presentencing detention since his arrest in late March.
Lee’s charges center on long-held suspicions, which dogged him throughout most of his political career, that he is the real owner of an auto parts company named DAS and used his presidential powers to benefit the company as well as himself and his family.
Part of the bribes also includes $5.85 million in lawsuit expenses Samsung Electronics Co. allegedly paid on behalf of DAS.
The former Seoul mayor is also accused of taking about 11.1 billion won in bribes from the state intelligence agency and a former head of a state-run banking firm. Prosecutors suspect he embezzled about 35 billion won from DAS and used it for personal purposes. [Yonhap]
Here is Lee Myung-bak’s response to the charges:
In Thursday’s hearing, Lee vented anger over the charges and maintained his innocence.
“I cannot stand how the charges against me have caught me in the trap of such a stereotypical image that everything is linked to money,” he told the court. “It is so humiliating as a person who has lived his whole life loathing corruption and back-scratching and being so vigilant against such things.”
Lee again denied ownership of DAS and said he never accepted anything from a conglomerate or its chief, referring to Samsung Group Chairman Lee Kun-hee.
“I do not own a single share in DAS … and I feel saddened, beyond rage, that (they) prosecuted me for freeing Chairman Lee in exchange for the lawsuit fees,” he said.
“All I have is the house I live in.”
It has long been suspected that the charges brought against Lee were political retaliation for the corruption investigation brought against former President Roh Moo-hyun during President Lee’s time in office. Roh ended up committing suicide because of the investigation. The Chief of Staff for President Roh was current President Moon Jae-in:
His lawyer accused prosecutors of carrying out a far-fetched investigation and called for a wise judgment by the court.
The charges against Lee are punishable by up to life imprisonment.
The scandal tainted his long-established image of a self-made man who started off as a salaryman and rose to the top post at one of the country’s leading companies in only 11 years, before he entered politics in 1992.
Lee has insisted this trial is political retaliation by the office of President Moon Jae-in over the death of late President Roh Moo-hyun, Lee’s predecessor. Roh committed suicide in 2009 while under a prosecution investigation into a slew of corruption allegations.
Lee’s associates have claimed that Moon, a key Roh ally who served as Roh’s chief of staff, is trying to force the same humiliation back on Lee.
The 76-year-old is the fourth former president to face a criminal trial after ex-Presidents Chun Doo-hwan, Roh Tae-woo and Park Geun-hye. Park is serving a 25-year jail term for corruption, pending a top court decision.
It will be interesting to see how this turns out, but considering the influence that the ruling party can have over the courts I fully expect that Lee will be convicted giving the Korean left the payback they have long demanded against former President Lee.
Here is yet another example of the United States Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces having to release someone falsely convicted of rape:
Cmdr. Matt Szoka, left, greets Judge Advocate General, Vice Admiral James W. Crawford III, during a tour of Naval Air Facility Atsugi on June 21, 2017. (Navy)
In a landmark decision Wednesday, the military’s highest court ruled that the Navy’s top lawyer, Vice Adm. James W. Crawford III, illegally meddled in the case of a SEAL accused of rape.
In a split 3-2 decision, the United States Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces tossed out the highly decorated commando’s 2014 court-martial conviction and barred the armed forces from ever trying him again.
The legal victory of Senior Chief Special Warfare Operator Keith E. Barry — who never quit proclaiming his innocence — will ripple across the entire military.
Writing for the majority, Chief Judge Scott W. Stucky, a retired Air Force colonel, determined that not only can the military’s most senior attorneys be held responsible for bogus advice that helps to unlawfully coerce a prosecution but that Crawford “actually did so in this case.”
Called the “mortal enemy of military justice,” unlawful command influence, or UCI, occurs when superiors utter words or take actions that wrongfully influence the outcome of court-martial cases, jeopardize the appellate process or undermine the public’s confidence in the armed forces by appearing to tip the scales of justice. [Navy Times]
Here is the key part of this decision that the Court of Appeals is trying to create awareness of:
Designed to buttress the public’s perception of the military criminal justice system, the majority’s decision also raises hard questions about “the political climate surrounding sexual assault” caused by the “increased scrutiny by Congress as well as other political and military leaders” on commanders who convene court-martial cases but also go through Capitol Hill, the Pentagon and the White House to get promoted.
The concern is that commanders fearing for their careers will just send people accused of sexual assault to trial on flimsy evidence to avoid any repercussions to their career advancement. If you read the whole story at the link you can see that the Seal was accused with flimsy evidence by an ex-girlfriend, but the leadership was under significant political pressure to convict him. To make matters worse top Naval lawyers who knew better were encouraging conviction as well.
I don’t know if this will change the culture of guilty until proven innocent for people accused of sexual assault, but it is a start.
It appears that the North Koreans are still trying to use flattery with President Trump to get sanctions removed instead of denuclearizing:
U.S. President Donald Trump thanked North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and pledged to work together with him on Thursday after Kim said via a South Korean envoy that his faith in Trump remains unchanged.
“Kim Jong Un of North Korea proclaims ‘unwavering faith in President Trump.’ Thank you to Chairman Kim. We will get it done together!” Trump tweeted.
South Korea’s chief presidential security adviser, Chung Eui-yong, made a one-day trip to Pyongyang on Wednesday and held talks with the North’s leader amid a deadlock in denuclearization negotiations between the United States and the North.
During the talks, Kim told Chung’s delegation that he remains firmly committed to denuclearization and that his faith in Trump remains unchanged, even though nuclear negotiations with the U.S. encountered difficulties, according to Chung.
Kim was also quoted as saying he’s never spoken ill of Trump to anybody. [Yonhap]
Kim Jong-un best be careful, Bob Woodward will probably claim he found an anonymous source that he talked bad about President Trump.
There is so little green space around Seoul as it is and it appears there may soon be even less:
The Korean government is mulling the option of developing regions in Seoul designated as greenbelt areas to increase apartment supply in the city.
According to local media reports in Korea, the Ministry of Land, Transport and Infrastructure is looking into securing land in Seoul that could be developed into residential areas. Options on the table for the Land Ministry includes greenbelt areas with relatively less conservation value compared to other areas as well as abandoned land in the city.
Greenbelt zones are protected areas of land where building is not permitted to protect the environment.
Lawmakers and top officials, including ruling Democratic Party Chairman Lee Hae-chan and Blue House policy chief Jang Ha-sung, have said that the government wants to significantly increase the supply of apartments in Seoul. The stance indicates an about-face in the government’s real estate policy.
As recently as last week, top officials, including Land Minister Kim Hyun-mee, said that the supply of housing in Korea is sufficient. Up until now, government measures focused on tight control over speculation on existing apartments. [Joong Ang Ilbo]
You can read more at the link, but does anyone still think that all of Yongsan Garrison once it is vacated will become a city park?
Moon's budget bill for the NK Human Rights Foundation is set to $0.72m down 92.6%; budget for the organization's database set to $0.43m down nearly 71%; assistance to the defectors has been reduced by more than 31%. This is huge. https://t.co/ofLPR7nLnF
Police investigators carry boxes containing confiscated items out of Sookmyung Girls’ High School in Seoul on Sept. 5, 2018, as police launch a probe into allegations that a teacher leaked exam questions for his twin daughters attending the same school. (Yonhap)
Here are some of the excerpts involving the Korean peninsula from Bob Woodward’s new book about the Trump administration:
A former senior adviser to U.S. President Donald Trump removed a document from the president’s desk to stop him from signing off on withdrawing the United States from a trade deal with South Korea, a news report citing an unpublished book said Tuesday.
Bob Woodward, a Washington Post journalist known for his investigative reporting on the Watergate scandal, wrote the anecdote in his new book, “Fear,” set for release next week, the paper said.
Woodward also wrote, based on in-depth interviews with administration officials whose identities were not revealed, that Trump’s handling of the North Korean nuclear threat caused anxiety among his subordinates.
“According to Woodward, Cohn ‘stole a letter off Trump’s desk’ that the president was intending to sign to formally withdraw the United States from a trade agreement with South Korea,” the Post wrote, referring to Trump’s former top economic adviser, Gary Cohn.
“Cohn later told an associate that he removed the letter to protect national security and that Trump did not notice that it was missing,” it said.
Trump is known to have considered terminating the Korea-U.S. free trade agreement last year before stopping short due to tensions over North Korea’s sixth nuclear test in September.
The two sides later renegotiated the deal but have yet to formally sign it. [Joong Ang Ilbo]
I find it hard to believe that something as significant as withdrawing from the US-ROK FTA would be something that President Trump would just forget about, he probably never intended to sign it in the first place. This just seems like typical Trump approach of making a threatening demand to show his seriousness to later settle for a better deal.
At a National Security Council meeting in January, Trump downplayed the importance of the U.S. troop presence in South Korea and questioned why government resources were being spent in the region, the paper quoted the book as saying.
U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis responded, “We’re doing this in order to prevent World War III,” it said. “After Trump left the meeting, Woodward recounts, ‘Mattis was particularly exasperated and alarmed, telling close associates that the president acted like – and had the understanding of – ‘a fifth- or sixth-grader.’”
I find it believable that Secretary Mattis made the “prevent World War III” comment, but I find it hard to believe that Secretary Mattis would openly mock the President in front of his aides.
One month into the Trump administration, U.S. Joint Chief of Staff Chairman Joe Dunford was “rattled” when Trump asked him to prepare a plan for a pre-emptive military strike on North Korea.
I doubt someone of General Dunford’s stature and experience gets “rattled” by much of anything. I would hope the Pentagon has a pre-emptive strike plan for North Korea on the shelf. If the President wants to review it that seems prudent.
And last fall, Trump mocked North Korean leader Kim Jong-un at a United Nations speech by calling him “Little Rocket Man.” Aides worried that he may be provoking Kim, but the president told his then aide Rob Porter that it was a “contest of wills,” according to The Post’s account of the book.
“This is all about leader versus leader. Man versus man. Me versus Kim,” Trump was quoted as saying.
This last excerpt I can actually see the President saying.
The main objective of this delegation was to figure out a way to continue denuclearization talks between the US and North Korea. Good luck with that:
Chung Eui-yong (3rd from R), a special envoy of South Korean President Moon Jae-in to North Korea, bows before heading for Pyongyang from Seoul’s Seongnam airport on Sept. 5, 2018, along with four other members of a high-profile delegation. They are Vice Unification Minister Chun Hae-sung (2nd from R); Chung; National Intelligence Service Director Suh Hoon (C); Kim Sang-gyun (3rd from L), a senior NIS official; and Yun Kun-young (2nd from L), presidential secretary for state affairs. (Yonhap)
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un met with a special delegation of South Korean President Moon Jae-in Wednesday, possibly reaffirming his commitment to establishing peace on the Korean Peninsula and denuclearizing his country.
“The special delegation met with Chairman Kim Jong-un to deliver the personal letter (from Moon) and exchange their opinions,” Seoul’s presidential office Cheong Wa Dae said in a brief statement.
The statement came hours after Chung Eui-yong, top security adviser to Moon and head of the presidential National Security Council, arrived in the North on what is still expected to be a one-day trip.
“The special delegation is scheduled to leave (Pyongyang) after attending a dinner,” Cheong Wa Dae spokesman Kim Eui-kyeom said, adding it was not clear who would host the dinner.
The Cheong Wa Dae spokesman said the outcome of the delegation’s trip to Pyongyang will be released Thursday, considering their late return. [Yonhap]
