Author: GIKorea

It looks like the purge of Korean conservatives is continuing:

Prosecutors on Monday requested prison sentences for nearly a dozen lawmakers affiliated with the predecessor of the main opposition People Power Party (PPP) over their alleged involvement in a physical altercation at the National Assembly in 2019.

The Seoul Southern District Court is scheduled to deliver its verdict on Nov. 20, more than six years after the incident took place.

Prosecutors requested a two-year sentence for Rep. Na Kyung-won of the PPP, who served as the then main opposition Liberty Korea Party (LKP)’s floor leader at the time.

A 10-month prison term and a fine of 2 million won ($1,440) were sought for Rep. Song Eon-seog, the current PPP floor leader.

Prosecutors also sought a 1 1/2-year prison term for Hwang Kyo-ahn, former leader of the LKP.

In April 2019, the then ruling Democratic Party, in cooperation with minor opposition blocs, including the center-right Bareunmirae Party, sought to fast-track a package of reform bills. Among the key bills was legislation aimed at establishing an independent agency to investigate corruption involving high-ranking government officials.

Members of the LKP fiercely resisted the move, physically attempting to block the legislative process. The conflict escalated when Rep. Chae Yi-bae of the Bareunmirae Party was confined in his office for five hours by LKP members.

Following the incident, rival parties filed a total of 18 complaints against each other, involving charges such as assault, obstruction of business and defamation.

Korea Herald

You can read more at the link.

I have seen Koreans who are college graduates agree to do longer military service by becoming officers just to have better working conditions compared to just being a standard draftee. Being an officer though requires long military service of 39 months compared to the 18 months of a draftee:

Lee Jee-ho, the only son of Samsung Electronics Chair Lee Jae-yong, began his mandatory military service Monday as a Navy officer candidate.

The 24-year-old, who was born in the United States in 2000, entered the Jinhae Naval Base Command in Changwon, South Gyeongsang Province, in the afternoon, accompanied by family. His enlistment follows last week’s announcement that he would renounce his US citizenship and fulfill his compulsory service obligations.

Lee will undergo an 11-week training program before being commissioned as an ensign on Dec. 1. He is slated to serve 39 months.

South Korea requires all able-bodied men to serve in the military for at least 18 months.

Korea Herald

You can read more at the link, but good on Lee’s son for agreeing to complete his mandatory military service. With him being an American citizen could have avoided military service all together, but still decided to do it.

I read this article about supposed human rights violations of the Hyundai workers expecting something horrible and yet the worst thing that happened was they had to share four toilets and two urinals with 72 other people. This guy likely conducted his mandatory service in the ROK military where the conditions are very similar:

A South Korean worker who returned home after days of detention in a U.S. immigration raid has recounted details of human rights violations, saying U.S. agents laughed at the worker in a scornful manner during interrogation, among other inhumane treatment.

The worker, who declined to be identified, shared a personal log of the ordeal with Yonhap News Agency after returning home Friday along with 329 others, including 14 foreigners, who had been arrested in the raid at the site jointly run by Hyundai Motor Group and LG Energy Solution on Sept. 4.

The worker managed to record the ordeal during detention by secretly taking pen and paper provided to them to fill out documents.

Yonhap

You can read the rest at the link, but this guy was really offended about some ICE agent making a “Rocket Man” joke he didn’t even understand.

This week is the 75th anniversary of the Incheon Landing Operation that turned the tide of the Korean War.  With the Lee administration trying to play nice with North Korea, it will be interesting to see how visibly ROK government officials will attend official events commemorating the Incheon Landing.

You can read more about the Incheon Landing Operation at my prior postings at the below links:

For anyone visiting Incheon the memorial hall there dedicated to the landing is well worth checking out as well: 

Long time ROK Heads may remember how in 2005 huge riots broke out in Incheon as ROK veterans groups defended the MacArthur statue in Incheon commemorating Operation Chromite from the anti-US groups that had vowed to tear it down.

Fortunately the anti-US groups failed to tear down the statue after their Braveheart style attack was foiled by police and pro-US groups.  For those that haven’t been there before Jayu Park in Incheon where the MacArthur statue stands is well worth checking out as well as taking a walk through Chinatown below the hill. Hopefully you don’t run into any anti-US leftists this week if visiting the park.

Apparently Chinese companies are worried that graduates from U.S. universities may be spies:

For Chinese students, a degree from a US university was once considered a “golden ticket” to coveted jobs back home. But many are now finding that geopolitics is blunting their ambitions.

The Trump administration’s threat of visa cancellations – later shelved after a trade-truce phone call between the US president and Chinese leader Xi Jinping in early June – has compounded already swirling uncertainty for Chinese students in the US.

And at home, some graduates are finding their experience abroad is raising red flags with employers, who are increasingly casting a suspicious eye over graduates trained at foreign universities worldwide.

With their parents footing the hefty bill, some Chinese students are asking if studying abroad is now worth it, especially when the domestic jobs market seems to be favoring homegrown talent. (……..)

In late April, Dong Mingzhu, chairwoman of China’s home appliances giant Gree Electric told a shareholder meeting that the company “will never use any returnees because there could be spies among them” – a comment criticized on social media and state media for “stigmatizing” and “stereotyping” the returning cohort.

The “spy suspicion” – a paranoia usually found in state-backed firms – is especially jarring coming from a prominent private business leader. And it adds insult to injury for Chinese overseas graduates like Lian, who say they already feel unwelcome in China’s public sector.

CNN

You can read more at the link, but if Chinese employers are considering these graduates a security risk than why shouldn’t U.S. employers as well?

Kim Yo-jong is upset because the US-ROK militaries plan to conduct what is essentially a video game military exercise together:

The influential sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on Sunday blasted a planned joint military exercise between South Korea and the United States, warning the “reckless muscle-flexing” would bring unfavorable consequences.

Kim Yo-jong, vice department director of the North Korean ruling party’s Central Committee, issued the warning in a statement carried by the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

The allies are set to stage the Iron Mace tabletop military exercise from Monday to Friday at the U.S. Forces Korea headquarters at Camp Humphreys in Pyeongtaek, focusing on integrating Washington’s nuclear assets and Seoul’s conventional capabilities to deter North Korean threats.

Kim reiterated her criticism of the allies’ nuclear deterrence plan, saying North Korea would regard the exercise as a “display” and continuation of a confrontational stance by the “current rulers” if it is staged with their full understanding of the dangers.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but she will be brought out to condemn every US-ROK exercise because the Kim regime thinks with the Lee administration in power they can get him to advocate for cancelling them for little or nothing in return.