Category: Korea-General Topics

It will be interesting to see if Lee has his sentenced reduced for facilitating a vaccine deal that now shields the Moon administration from the heavy criticism they had been receiving:

After South Korea closed a deal with Pfizer to obtain additional doses of its COVID-19 vaccine, Samsung Electronics’ de facto chief, Lee Jae-yong, is receiving much attention in local media for his reported role in facilitating talks between the two sides. 

Seoul announced Friday that it had secured enough additional vaccine for 20 million people in a deal that soothed public worries over a shortage. Adding to those worries were the reported side effects associated with the AstraZeneca jabs — the mainstay of the country’s inoculation campaign. 

According to the DongA Ilbo and multiple other media outlets, the vice chairman of Samsung, in prison since January for bribing former President Park Geun-hye, acted as a bridge between the Korean government and Pfizer. 

While the Moon Jae-in government had no channels with the top leadership of the US vaccine developer until early December, Lee used his personal network and sought the help of Shantanu Narayen, chairman of the US computer software company Adobe, who was an independent director of Pfizer. 

Korea Herald

You can read more at the link, but for those that have followed Lee Jae-yong’s legal issues he was essentially jailed because he was caught in the middle of the political battles between the Korean left and right. He was jailed because it was alleged that former President Park made demands to Lee that Samsung give money to a sport agency to sponsor her friend’s daughter’s Olympic equestrian training.  In return the Park administration was alleged to have smothered over Lee’s acquisition of Samsung from his then ailing father.

I have no idea if Lee is guilty of what he is accused of, but what I do know is that Korea is a rule by law nation instead of a rule of law nation. If powers that be want him guilty they can make it happen. The same powers that be can find a way to get him released as well. We will see if that happens in the coming months because I doubt they will announce it right after this vaccine deal.

It appeared that when Trump was in office he did not have a good relationship with Moon and his latest remarks validate this:

Former president Donald Trump on Friday accused his South Korean counterpart of ripping off the United States, while continuing to highlight his supposed friendship with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

“Kim Jong-un of North Korea, who I have gotten to know (and like) under the most trying of circumstances, never respected the current President of South Korea, Moon Jae-in,” Trump said in a statement.

“President Moon was weak as a leader and as a negotiator, except when it came to the continued, long term military ripoff of the USA… We were treated like fools for decades, however, I got them to pay billions of dollars more for the military protection and services we render.”

“The Biden Administration is not even going to ask for the additional billions South Korea agreed to pay us,” Trump added, referring to current President Joe Biden.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

Park Sang-hak and the Fighters for a Free North Korea are planning on launching more leaflets to North Korea despite the Moon administration’s vows to stop them:

A North Korean defector group said Friday it plans to send thousands of leaflets to North Korea next week despite a recently enacted ban on such leafleting.

Park Sang-hak, a defector who heads Fighters for a Free North Korea, told Yonhap News Agency on Friday that his group plans to send leaflets across the border at an unannounced time and location from this Sunday to May 1.

“The leaflets will include a message criticizing their three-generation hereditary dictatorship and telling them to give out at least the minimum amount of food required for North Korean people,” he said.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but I guess we will see if the Moon administration decides to jail these activists or not. The new law they past can give people up to three years in jail for sending leaflets to North Korea. Park Sang-hak is probably hoping they try and do that to highlight how authoritarian the law is.

 ROK Heads may remember that Park Sang-hak has been the victim of multiple assassination attempts by North Korean agents and assaulted by Korean leftists. He has also had leftists intrude at his house and has been repeatedly arrested and harassed by the Moon administration in effort to stop his group’s activities. .

It would be interesting to see what the Biden administration would ask for diplomatically in return for this favor if they do indeed grant this request from the Moon administration:

As a “swap” deal with the United States is emerging as a temporary fix to address Korea’s shortage of COVID-19 vaccines, Seoul will find itself in the position of looking at how to return Washington’s favor diplomatically, according to diplomatic observers, Thursday. 

With a mere 3.41 percent of the country’s 52 million population having received shots since the government began its vaccination campaign Feb. 26, due to the shortage, Korea has turned to its long-time ally for help as the U.S. has enough vaccines for every single American, according to President Joseph Biden.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

It would be interesting to see how many Koreans rush to get the Russian made vaccine if they decide to go this route:

Domestic contract manufacturing organizations (CMOs) of the Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine have enjoyed a bullish run on the stock market this week, as the government began to consider use of the Russian vaccine to deal with a supply shortage of Pfizer and Moderna products.

President Moon Jae-in recently ordered his staff to review the feasibility of using Sputnik V, according to sources familiar with the issue. The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety also asked the foreign ministry to collect data on the safety of the Russian vaccine.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link, but I would not be surprised if the Moon administration is trying to play the Russians off of the Americans to get COVID vaccines out of the Biden administration.

In the apartment complex I used to live a, the vigilant ajushi would put one of those huge stickers that was hard to remove on people that did not park appropriately. I used to laugh seeing people the next morning trying to pull that thing off and get to work on time:

Public anger is rising over “thoughtless” car owners who park their vehicles taking up multiple parking spaces, limiting the slots available to other vehicles and inconveniencing others.

An internet user uploaded a posting on Bobaedream, an online community for motorists, criticizing a van owner who took up four parking spaces in an underground parking lot, Monday.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

This is a big win for Japan because they can point to this ruling in regards to the ongoing diplomatic battle about the Korean court ruling to reimburse forced laborers from World War II:

 South Korean victims of wartime sexual slavery lost their second lawsuit against the Japanese government Wednesday, suffering a setback in their efforts to hold Tokyo accountable for war crimes. 

The Seoul Central District Court dismissed the case brought by 20 plaintiffs, including surviving victims forced to work in front-line brothels for Japanese soldiers during World War II, citing sovereign immunity, a legal doctrine that allows a state to be immune from a civil suit in foreign courts.

“When we recognize exemptions of sovereign immunity, diplomatic clashes will inevitably ensue,” the court said. It also cited a few examples of court cases after World War II that were rejected for deliberations based on sovereign immunity.

It also took note of the 2015 bilateral agreement between Seoul and Tokyo to resolve the dispute. Despite some procedural problems, the agreement was reached after listening to opinions of the victims, euphemistically called “comfort women,” and some of them have received money from the foundation set up under the deal, the court said.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but it seems pretty inconsistent that sovereign immunity applies in this case and not the forced laborer case. Maybe the 2015 comfort women agreement between Japan and South Korea is why sovereign immunity applies in this case and not the other.

The Moon administration COVID vaccine plan has fallen apart and they are now looking towards the Biden administration to bail them out from all the criticism they are receiving domestically:

South Korea is “earnestly discussing” forging a swap deal with the United States to secure COVID-19 vaccines, the South Korean foreign minister said Tuesday.

Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong revealed the bilateral consultation under way between Seoul and Washington, during a parliamentary session. 

“Currently, (South Korea) is discussing (the potential swap deal) with the U.S. side quite earnestly,” the foreign minister said, responding to a query by Rep. Park Jin of the main opposition People Power Party.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but considering the vaccine hesitancy in the US and the growing stockpiles of vaccines because of it; I would not be surprised if a deal is worked out.

The participation of South Korea in the IAEA team probably isn’t going to matter since the opposition to this Japanese plan is political and not scientific:

Japanese Ambassador Koichi Aiboshi said Monday that he thinks South Korean experts can be part of a U.N. nuclear watchdog-led monitoring team for his country’s planned release of radioactive water from its crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant. 

South Korea has expressed concerns about potential health risks over Japan’s plan to release over 1.2 million tons of Fukushima’s contaminated water into the Pacific Ocean and said it wants to take part in safety verification efforts by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.