Category: Korean Government

President Moon’s political opposition is going to play out the Cho Kuk saga as long as they can for maximum political benefit prior to next’s year’s national assembly elections:

“South Korea’s democracy is dead. We plan to use all available cards responding to President Moon’s nomination of Cho to the justice minister position including a plan to team up with minor opposition parties to submit requests to name a special investigator to look into Cho’s alleged corruption and nepotism allegations,” a spokesman at the main opposition Liberty Korea Party (LKP) said in a party commentary after the President’s confirmation of Cho, Monday afternoon.

The minor opposition Bareunmirae Party (BMP) said it will discuss action plans with the LKP. “Floor leaders of the country’s major political parties were discussing detailed plans for the next Assembly sessions, but I received a short phone call from senior presidential secretary for state affairs Kang Ki-jung in which he said President Moon appointed Cho as justice minister as planned. It’s simply unacceptable. We will do what we can do but other lawmakers oppose the President’s decision,” BMP floor leader Rep. Oh Shin-hwan said during a hurriedly arranged party meeting.

Korea Times

It is actually good politics to keep Cho Kuk in the headlines because this is what his current poll ratings are:

In a poll by local pollster Realmeter released last week, 56.2 percent of South Koreans respondents were opposed to Cho becoming justice minister, while 40.1 percent were in favor.

The ruling DPK are facing a key election next year, which would be critical for Moon to avoid “lame duck” status. The South Korean leader is facing challenges to diffuse an uncertain outlook for the country’s export-dependent economy, which this year is projected to expand at the weakest pace in more than a decade. 

However, with Cho Kuk being appointed, I expect we will start seeing less of him in the headlines and this will just fade away down the memory hole like the Moon administration expects it too.

For example does anyone mention Foreign Affairs Minister Kang Kyung-hwa’s ethical lapses any more? It will be the same thing with Cho Kuk.

Wife of #ChoKuk, #MoonJaeIn's Justice Min. nominee, called Dongyang Univ Pres. (her boss), asked him not to release to prosecution files re: her alleged forging of her daughter's award, said at very end, "If you mistakenly release them, you will get hurt." https://t.co/14Rhr8HzNh

— Sung-Yoon Lee (@SungYoonLee1) September 8, 2019

The ROK prosecutors tried to put some heat on Cho Kuk by indicting his wife for fraud:

The wife of justice minister nominee Cho Kuk was indicted on Friday over allegations that she fabricated a school certificate for her daughter.

The prosecution filed a formal charge against Cho’s wife, a professor surnamed Chung, without summoning her for its probe into a series of corruption allegations involving Cho’s family.

Chung, 57, a Dongyang University professor, was accused of forging a school president’s award certificate in 2012 to help her daughter enter a medical school in 2014.

The move is expected to deal a blow to Cho, who attended a parliamentary confirmation hearing Friday, nearly one month after he was nominated to lead the justice ministry.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but he had already thrown his wife under the bus before to advance his nomination.

It apparently worked because President Moon went ahead and appointed him to ROK Justice Minister as expected:

President Moon Jae-in appointed Cho Kuk as justice minister Monday, emphasizing the need to continue the government’s reform drive.

He appealed for “public understanding and support” for his decision to appoint Cho despite controversies over alleged ethical lapses and wrongdoing by his family. Cho’s wife has even been indicted on charges of forging a university president’s citation for her daughter.

Moon said he’s aware of the fierce debate over whether Cho is suitable for the post.

“But I thought what’s more important is to maintain the principle and consistency,” Moon said in a televised statement issued after giving Cho a letter of appointment at Cheong Wa Dae.

It would be a “bad precedent” to not appoint Cho solely on the basis of suspicions of illicit acts that have not been confirmed, Moon said.

Yonhap

Over the coming weeks expect to hear the term “reform” quite a bit because President Moon wanted Cho Kuk as the Justice Minister to take power away from prosecutors for corruption investigations. President Moon wants to move indictment powers from prosecutors to a special unit. If this special unit is staffed with political allies like Cho, this would allow the Blue House to control who gets indicted.

Cho Kuk, when asked if he has turned away from Sanomaeng (Socialist Workers League of Korea), which called for armed revolt to overthrow #SouthKorea's liberal democracy, said socialism is necessary in South Korea. Moon sill wants to appoint him.https://t.co/Wo039glAEO

— Tara O (@DrTaraO) September 6, 2019

Here is what Chung Jae-jeong, professor emeritus at the University of Seoul has to say about the current trade dispute between Korea and Japan.

Q: Since the Supreme Court ruling, has Seoul given the impression that it may be disregarding the 1965 pact?

A: There is a high possibility that Japan takes this view. Seoul says that it is addressing the insufficiencies of the 1965 pact, but from Japan’s point of view, all issues regarding compensation were completely resolved with the deal. The Korean government has only said it respects the ruling, and has not given clear explanations about the discrepancy between the 1965 pact and the Supreme Court ruling. There has not been any statement from the foreign minister or the President declaring once and for all that Seoul does not deny the pact. If this position was declared through an official channel, it could help to assuage the considerable level of concern Japan has. This will facilitate negotiations on how to resolve the current disputes. Abe and the Japanese foreign minister have continued to demand Korea “keep state-to-state promises and treaties.”

Q: If the President were to make such a declaration, the Korean public may see it as a humiliation and get the impression that we are succumbing to Japan’s demands. 

A: I think we as a country have passed a stage where we approach state-to-state conflicts emotionally. They should be handled with professional judgment and knowledge. 

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

Professor Chung recommends that a third party arbitrator be used to resolve this issue, but this is whole is issue is about driving anti-Japanese sentiment for future elections not resolving it, so the Moon administration will continue to down play the 1965 Treaty.

Here is a really good interview from BBC Hardtalk with South Korean Foreign Affairs Minister Kang Kyung-hwa. Hat tip to Korea Sparkling:

I am not used to news commentators asking good and informative questions. Kang made the point that the current trade dispute is about the South Korean court ruling on compensating forced laborers, not North Korea export controls as Japan claims. I think everyone agrees on this point and the Japanese are using the North Korean export issue as its legal cover to put pressure on the ROK government on the forced labor issue.

In my opinion Kang did not explain very well how the 1965 Treaty is no longer relevant in regards to settling compensation claims. She kept saying it was the South Korean Supreme Court that came up with the ruling, not the ROK government. However, it is the ROK government that can settle the compensation issue by paying the compensation claims with the money given to the ROK in 1965 by Japan. If they did that to begin with this current trade dispute would not happen. Instead they want to confiscate Japanese property in South Korea.

I believe the Japanese are responding hard on this issue because they want to prevent compensation claims coming from other countries that they have already had settlement agreements with if they paid the South Korean claims. The ROK government knows that Japan is not going to pay the compensation, but are using the dispute for domestic political purposes to obscure their bad economic policies, corruption, and other issues.

I would have liked to have had Foreign Minister Kang asked if she thinks Chinese property should be confiscated if victims of Chinese aggression during the Korean War demand it.

The interview then goes on to talk about the US-ROK alliance and North Korea. Hardtalk asks Kang if South Korea has been sidelined in the negotiations with North Korea as well as the upcoming US-ROK cost sharing talks. Kang says that is not the case, but does not make a very convincing argument. For the cost sharing issue she says that a reasonable amount needs to negotiated for the upkeep of US troops that can pass through the National Assembly. The reported amount that the US is looking for would not make it through the National Assembly.

The interview is pretty long, but I recommend watching the whole thing. I would be surprised if Foreign Minister Kang appears on the show again considering the grilling that she received.

Cho Kuk is pretty trying to claim that he knew nothing of the corruption involving his family members:

Cho Kuk, the embattled justice minister nominee, denied academic-related allegations over his daughter and a dubious investment in a private equity fund (PEF), as he sought to clarify corruption scandals involving his family on Monday.

Cho, former senior presidential secretary for civil affairs, held a press conference at the National Assembly to address the scandals as the hearings set for Monday and Tuesday have effectively fallen through amid political wrangling.

Cho is the focus of public outcry over alleged corruption involving his family, including the suspected undue entrance by his daughter into an elite university and a hefty dubious investment in the PEF.

His daughter was listed as a primary writer of a pathology paper published in a renowned medical journal when she took part in a two-week internship at a medical science institute in 2008 as a high school student. Critics speculate that he may have been involved in her listing and that the paper might have helped her gain admission to Korea University in 2010.

“I did not know the detailed process (about my daughter being listed as the first writer for the paper) at that time, and I’ve come to identify the allegation during the latest verification process,” Cho said.

Cho dismissed allegations that he had contacted a professor to enable his daughter to receive preferential treatment. (……)

The nominee, meanwhile, flatly denied allegations over the PEF investment by his family.

His wife faces allegations that she sought to evade the gift tax after she invested over 1 billion won (US$865,765) in the PEF with her two children.

Cho’s family promised to invest the money that is larger than its total wealth in the PEF two months after Cho was named as senior presidential secretary for civil affairs in May 2017.

The fund bought a firm that produces automatic switches for streetlamps, which later secured hundreds of orders issued by the government and saw an increase in sales.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but the opposition lawmakers have backed down from demanding his family members testify during this confirmation hearing. Also if you can believe it, Cho is going around preaching that the ROK needs a fair and just society and called for the need to eradicate social ills committed by the privileged when he is part of the problem.

With that all said it appears that Cho will be appointed by President Moon which means he can squash any investigation into his family.

How come I feel this is just a big dog and pony show to help smooth the way towards Cho Kuk nomination approval next week?:

The prosecution began investigating allegations surrounding justice minister nominee Cho Kuk and his family, Tuesday, carrying out large-scale search and seizure raids on a dozen schools and other facilities linked to the suspicions.

According to the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office, investigators conducted searches at Busan Medical Center, and Seoul National (SNU), Korea, Dankook and Kongju National universities for evidence related to the allegations of preferential treatment given to Cho’s daughter in her college admissions and receipt of scholarships.

The law enforcement agency also sent investigators to a private equity firm that Cho made a huge investment in amid suspicions that he tried to transfer his wealth to his children without paying taxes; as well as a private school foundation run by his mother. 

Currently, 11 complaints have been filed with the prosecution regarding the scandal. 

“As public concern has been raised over the allegations against Cho, we decided to conduct the raids to clarify the facts,” a prosecutor said.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link, but would anyone be surprised if the Blue House announces that these raids produced no evidence thus Cho’s nomination should be approved next week.

It looks like President Moon is committed to ramming through his Justice Minister nomination despite the corruption allegations against him:

A parliamentary panel decided Monday to hold a confirmation hearing next week for justice minister nominee Cho Kuk, who faces snowballing corruption allegations involving his family.

Political parties agreed to hold the two-day hearing on Sept. 2-3, according to lawmakers sitting on the legislation and judiciary committee.

The last-minute deal was reached after the ruling party threatened to hold a “people’s hearing” Tuesday where Cho could clarify allegations to the public.

Public uproar mounted over his qualifications amid a series of scandals ranging from illicit college admission allegations about Cho’s daughter and his family’s dubious investment in a private equity fund (PEF) and other corruption allegations.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but the ramming through of yet another government official with corruption allegations against them continues to show the hypocrisy of the Moon administration that came to power vowing to fight for a “fair and just society”:

President Moon Jae-in said “there is a saying that corruption turns everything into naught. we must fight corruption in order to realize a fair and just society.” And he also added that “over the past several years, the power squeezed the livelihood of the people through unjust and corruptive ways and wasted the people’s tax money as if their own while executing state powers, thereby routinizing cheating and special privileges in our society. 

Cheongwadae, Sept. 2017

It seems the Moon administration is just more Korean governmental business as usual.

Here are the defense upgrades that the ROK government plans to invest in:

 South Korea plans to add two more ground-based anti-missile early warning radars and begin building three Aegis-equipped destroyers in the next five years in an effort to better detect and intercept incoming missiles from North Korea, the defense ministry said Wednesday.

The plan was one of the key projects that the ministry unveiled in its five-year defense blueprint for 2020-2024 amid heightened concerns about North Korea’s missile capabilities in the wake of a series of test-firings of what Pyongyang claimed were new weapons. (……..)

It will also seek to enhance its multi-layered interception capabilities by deploying the improved version of interceptors — Patriot Advanced Capability (PAC)-3 and Cheolmae-II missiles, while wrapping up the development of L-SAM, a long-range surface-to-air missile.

With a goal to boost its “strategic target strike” capabilities against nuclear and missile facilities, the ministry vowed to secure more precision-guided missiles to be launched from the ground, the sea, submarines and fighter jets.

The development of additional non-lethal weapons will also be pushed for, such as electromagnetic pulse bombs and blackout ones, to neutralize North Korea’s electric power system in contingencies, according to the ministry. 

In order to “significantly” boost reconnaissance and surveillance capabilities of its own, the ministry also vowed to deploy five military satellites by 2023 and multiple mid- and high-altitude drones over the next five years. South Korea plans to add two more ground-based anti-missile early warning radars and begin building three Aegis-equipped destroyers in the next five years in an effort to better detect and intercept incoming missiles from North Korea, the defense ministry said Wednesday.

The plan was one of the key projects that the ministry unveiled in its five-year defense blueprint for 2020-2024 amid heightened concerns about North Korea’s missile capabilities in the wake of a series of test-firings of what Pyongyang claimed were new weapons. (……..)

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but does anyone really think the Moon administration will purchase all these capabilities? This announcement almost sounds like a negotiating tactic to stop the Trump administration from demanding that the ROK pay more for the upkeep of the US-ROK alliance.