Lee Jae-myung if he does become the Korean President in the futre he can exchange stories with Trump about he was also convicted of breaking election laws and had an assassination attempt against him:
A rift appears to be forming within the Democratic Party of Korea after a Seoul court sentenced party leader and previous presidential candidate Rep. Lee Jae-myung to a suspended jail term Friday for election law violations.
The Democratic Party has officially denied that Lee’s conviction — which, if confirmed by higher courts, could cost him his legislative seat — would divide the party or necessitate a leadership shake-up.
The party’s secretary-general, Rep. Kim Yun-duck, told reporters Sunday that the party “stands united behind” Lee. “We are not at all considering instating a new party leader,” he said. “There is absolute consensus about that among our party.”
The Democratic Party leader, who was narrowly defeated by President Yoon Suk Yeol in the 2022 election, is still the widely favored pick for the next president, according to recent polls.
If Lee ends up being unseated and loses his shot at running for president, however, the Democratic Party will have no choice but to look for another candidate to run in the next presidential election, now less than three years away.
Beneath the surface, the non-Lee faction is slowly rallying around other liberal figures who served in the last Democratic Party administration under former President Moon Jae-in.
You can read more at the link.
The tit-for-tat between the ROK and North Korea continues:
The powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un said Sunday that South Korea will have to pay a “dear price” for sending propaganda leaflets across the border the previous day.
Kim Yo-jong, vice department director of the central committee of the North’s ruling Workers’ Party, said “various kinds of political agitation leaflets and dirty things” were dropped by the South near the border and further inland.
“We strongly denounce the shameful and dirty acts of the ROK scum who committed the provocation of scattering anti-DPRK political and conspiratorial agitation things once again in disregard of our repeated warnings,” she said in a statement carried by the North’s Korean Central News Agency, referring to South and North Korea by their formal names, the Republic of Korea and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
“There will be no house owner who hardly gets enraged at such dirty rubbish scattered in the clean yard, which even a mutt dislikes to touch,” she said.
You can read more at the link.
Please leave anything you want to discuss in the comments section.
I am surprised that auditors did not catch this spending irregularity sooner on the government credit card:
A regional court on Thursday fined the wife of opposition leader Lee Jae-myung 1.5 million won ($1,070) for providing free meals during her husband’s run in the party primary to select the candidate for the 2022 presidential election.
Kim Hye-kyung, wife of Democratic Party of Korea Chair Lee, was indicted after providing meals worth 104,000 won to the wives of three former and current party lawmakers and three of her aides at a restaurant in Seoul in August 2021, shortly after Lee declared his bid for the party election.
A corporate card from the Gyeonggi Province government, of which Lee was governor at the time, was allegedly used for the payment.
The Suwon District Court found Kim guilty of having her secretary, surnamed Bae, pay for the meals with her “permission” and imposed the fine.
You can read more at the link, but probably not coincidentally the Korean opposition party decided today to vote for the third time for a special investigation into President Yoon’s wife. The vote symbolic because it will fail again due to a Presidential veto.
I would have to think Elon Musk must have approved of this idea if Trump is planning to do this probably betting that tariffs on foreign EV competitors are also coming:
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team is aiming to end a tax credit for electric vehicle (EV) purchases, a key element of President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), as part of broader tax reform legislation, Reuters reported Thursday, citing two unnamed sources.
The potential repealing of the $7,500 consumer tax credit is being discussed in meetings by an energy-policy transition team, which is headed by Harold Hamm, founder of Continental Resources, and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, according to the news agency.
The removal of the credit could have an impact on EV sales and affect EV-producing companies and battery manufacturers. Naysayers have argued that ending the credit would impede a transition to EVs.
Tesla representatives have told a Trump transition committee they support repealing the subsidy, Reuters said.
You can read more at the link.
It looks like the Korean defense industry has found yet another potential customer:
![Second from left, Vice Admiral Angus Topshee, commander of the Royal Canadian Navy, is briefed about HD Hyundai Heavy Industries' Aegis destroyer, the King Jeongjo the Great, at the shipbuilding site in Ulsan on Tuesday. [HD HYUNDAI]](https://i0.wp.com/koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2024/11/12/0bb20a21-79b5-448a-8508-ae40e67aeacc.jpg?w=640&ssl=1)
Second from left, Vice Admiral Angus Topshee, commander of the Royal Canadian Navy, is briefed about HD Hyundai Heavy Industries’ Aegis destroyer, the King Jeongjo the Great, at the shipbuilding site in Ulsan on Tuesday. [HD HYUNDAI]
HD Hyundai Heavy Industries (HD HHI) is in discussions with Canada regarding potentially contributing to the nation’s naval defense.
Vice Admiral Angus Topshee, commander of the Royal Canadian Navy, toured the HHI’s Ulsan headquarters as part of discussions related to Canada’s upcoming Canadian Patrol Submarine Project (CPSP), estimated to be worth 60 trillion won ($42.8 billion), the company said Tuesday.
Canada’s Department of National Defence is in the process of acquiring up to 12 3,000-ton submarine fleets in a bid to strengthen the nation’s maritime defense as part of the project.
You can read more at the link.
This is one example of what Trump is hoping his tarrif threats leads to, businesses moving more production to the U.S.:
After years of record exports, especially to the US, Korea’s food industry is now keen to gauge the impact of Donald Trump’s second presidency.
The outspoken leader declared during this campaign that he could impose blanket tariffs of 10 to 20 percent on all US imports, raising concerns for Korea’s key export items such as computer chips and cars. But it is often overlooked that the US remains the largest export destination for Korea’s agricultural and seafood products.
In the first 10 months of this year, Korea’s agricultural and food exports soared 22 percent to $8.19 billion, and the US made up $1.31 billion of the total, driven by growing demand for popular K-foods such as gimbap, tteokbokki and ramyeon.
“Trump’s second term will likely have a significant impact on the K-food industry,” said Lee Hong-joo, a professor of consumer economics at Sookmyung Women’s University. “With possible hikes in tariffs and other non-tariff barriers, the price competitiveness of Korean products could weaken, dampening the consumer demand. Smaller businesses in particular may face higher production costs and weakening profitability.”
But Lee urged strategic shifts to reduce the risks, saying “Companies could reduce tariff burdens and reach local consumers more quickly by expanding production and distribution bases within the US. These localization efforts, in the long run, could help raise their consumer awareness and sales.”
You can read more at the link.
