Author: GIKorea

In a Taiwan crisis I would be very surprised if the North Koreans did not launch provocations in support of their Chinese allies just to divert U.S. troops and attention to the peninsula:

Seoul “should be fully prepared” for North Korean provocations in the event of a crisis between China and Taiwan, South Korea’s chief diplomat said this week.

Foreign Minister Park Jin, speaking to lawmakers Monday at a briefing for the Foreign and Unification Committee, said North Korea may engage in provocative behavior and exacerbate a potential crisis in the Taiwan Strait.

“Peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait is very important for the peace and stability of our Korean Peninsula,” Park said. “Therefore, we would like to continue to work together with the U.S. while firmly maintaining the [South Korea]-U.S. alliance.”

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

Once again this all an attempt by North Korea to create tension and justify provocations in an attempt to get Seoul to respond in a way that justifies their upcoming nuclear test:

The issue of propaganda loudspeakers along the border may re-emerge as an area of disagreement between South and North Korea, in the wake of Pyongyang’s claim that Seoul has resumed the use of loudspeaker broadcasts. 

Diplomatic observers say the loudspeaker issue could ratchet up tensions further on the Korean Peninsula.

On Monday, while accusing a South Korean naval ship of intruding in its waters, North Korea claimed that the South Korean military has been staging provocations recently, including loudspeaker broadcasts along the border. 

However, the Ministry of National Defense said it is no longer operating loudspeakers along the border. Later it added that the South Korean military had recently used a similar broadcasting device ― installed at guard posts ― to notify helicopters for mobilization in operations to put out wildfires or transport emergency patients, a defense official here said.

The loudspeaker issue has been a hot-button issue between South and North Korea, leading to many disputes over the decades. Both sides have deployed speakers to direct propaganda at one another, and the North Korean regime has on many occasions responded sensitively to the matter. 

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

With all the investigations going on involving the political opposition, the Justice Minister is unsurprisingly being closely watched by the opposition in effort to politically neutralize him:

Justice Minister Han Dong-hoon said Tuesday he will take legal action against Rep. Kim Eui-kyeom of the main opposition Democratic Party and a YouTube channel for spreading what he calls groundless allegations about a controversial drinking party.

Han said in a personal statement that Kim, YouTube channel “Citizen Press The Tamsa TV” and its officials will be held “criminally and civilly” liable for spreading obviously false information on him via YouTube and other methods.

Kim alleged in a parliamentary inspection of the justice ministry the previous day that Han had a late-night drinking party at a luxury bar in Cheongdam-dong, southern Seoul, on July 19 and 20 with President Yoon Suk-yeol and 30 lawyers from Kim ＆ Chang, the country’s top law firm.

Citizen Press The Tamsa TV, which is now under police investigation for tailing Han for nearly a month on the minister’s way home from work, raised the same allegations on the day.

Han categorically rejected the allegations, saying he had never been to the luxury bar and felt insulted by Kim’s false accusations.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but if people think politics in the U.S. is bad, it is arguably worse in Korea.

Who would have imagined that the bankruptcy of the Legoland Korea amusement park could lead to such negative economic impacts in South Korea:

Gangwon Province Governor Kim Jin-tae has been facing criticism from both the ruling and opposition parties for his “hasty” decision not to fulfill a payment guarantee for the developer of Legoland Korea, creating a liquidity crunch in the nation’s corporate bond and commercial paper markets. 

During the ruling People Power Party’s (PPP) emergency committee meeting, floor leader Rep. Joo Ho-young blamed Gangwon Governor Kim Jin-tae and warned of a butterfly effect.

“The Gangwon governor’s announcement not to fulfil the payment guarantee, despite its capability, has sowed distrust and created a big stir in the market,” Joo said.

He was also critical of Kim’s predecessor, former Gangwon Province Governor Choi Moon-soon of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), saying Choi pursued the Legoland project “without considering the financial status of the province, whose financial independence stands at a mere 27.4 percent this year,” while adding that Governor Kim is also responsible for amplifying the market concerns. 

“We have to remember that a butterfly flapping its wings sometimes causes a storm,” Joo said. 

Joo’s remarks came a day after the government said it would expand the provision of liquidity to over 50 trillion won ($34.7 billion) hoping to ease jitters in the country’s bond market stemming from the “Legoland shock.” 

Gangwon Jungdo Development Corp. (GJC), the developer of Legoland Korea, established a special purpose company to fund the construction of the Legoland resort, but declared bankruptcy on Oct. 6 after missing a payment of a 205 billion won asset-backed commercial paper issued by the special purpose company. 

Gangwon Province had guaranteed the commercial paper’s payment, but on Sept. 28 it declared that it would file for GJC’s bankruptcy to a local court, instead of paying the debt.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

I am not sure what the prosecutors are hoping to find with this raid because you would think any evidence would have long been removed if it existed at all:

An apparently tearful opposition leader Lee Jae-myung cried foul Monday after prosecutors raided the headquarters of his Democratic Party (DP) in a corruption investigation that is zeroing in on him after the arrest of one of his closest aides.

Investigators made their way into the DP headquarters to search the office of Kim Yong, a longtime confidant of Lee, over allegations that he took 847 million won (US$591,000) from property developers in the suburban city of Seongnam in violation of the political fund law.

Kim, who was arrested Saturday, is deputy head of the DP-affiliated Institute for Democracy think tank. It was the second attempt to raid the DP headquarters after an earlier attempt fell through due to protests from party officials.

“The central headquarters building of the opposition party was violated in the middle of a parliamentary audit,” Lee told reporters in front of the party headquarters. “A terrible incident unprecedented in the history of democracy in the Republic of Korea is happening now.”

While speaking, Lee apparently became tearful, looked up at the sky and wiped his eye.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but this is just another example of the rule by law in South Korea instead of rule of law. Whatever political party is in power uses the rule by law principle to go after their political enemies and this is just the continuation of this.