Category: Korean Government

It looks like President Moon was serious about assisting President-Elect Yoon with moving the presidential office after initial skepticism:

 The Cabinet on Wednesday approved 36 billion won (US$29.5 million) in reserve government funds for President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol’s plan to relocate the presidential office.

The spending was approved in an extraordinary Cabinet meeting presided over by Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum, a day after President Moon Jae-in ordered the swift approval of the relocation budget.

Kim said the approval was made in the context of cooperation for a “smooth government transition without a security vacuum” amid the heightening situation on the Korean Peninsula.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

The scandal involving President Moon Jae-in’s wife’s wardrobe has finally come to light, but the journalist that first began to document improprieties of the first lady was riddled with lawsuits from the Blue House for doing so:

It all began with a column published on June 11, 2019, in local newspaper the Joongang Ilbo, which pitted veteran journalist Nam Jeong-ho against the presidential office in a legal battle that lasted for two years. 

In his column titled “First Lady Kim Jung-sook’s Bucket List?” he cautiously but unequivocally alleges that the first lady had made the most of the official overseas trips taken with her husband, President Moon Jae-in, as opportunities to explore some of the world’s renowned cultural heritage sites and museums on taxpayers’ money. 

Nam said he was overwhelmed by what happened to him afterwards. He first received a letter from the presidential office urging him and his company to print corrections according to unusually lengthy and detailed guidelines. He ignored a letter from LKB & Partners, one of the nation’s top law firms which was representing the first lady. Weeks later they sued him, after the two sides failed to reach an agreement arranged by the Press Arbitration Committee.

Nam compares his legal battle against Cheong Wa Dae to a showdown akin to David and Goliath. 

“I felt pressure (when I looked at the sender of the thick package of documents because I knew who they were),” Nam said in a phone interview with The Korea Times on Monday. “There were lots of naysayers around me and they encouraged me to do what Cheong Wa Dae asked me to do. They said Cheong Wa Dae would mobilize all the resources it could to win the battle.”

Korea Times via a reader tip

You can read more at the link, but Mr. Nam should consider himself lucky that he wasn’t thrown in jail like other Korean journalists critical of President Moon.

This all should have happened many years ago, so it will be interesting to see if Yoon is able to get any traction on moving more of the government to Sejong City:

The incoming administration of President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol is moving to elevate the status of Sejong City, an administrative town 144 kilometers south of Seoul, as illustrated by the transition committee’s plan to transfer major components of the National Assembly to Sejong and set up a second presidential office there by 2027, according to government officials Thursday. 

Setting up the second presidential office and a legislative building in Sejong was a key campaign pledge of Yoon, a vision he said would cement the sparsely populated city as the administrative capital where a number of central government ministries and state-run organizations will be relocated.

The city houses 47 central administrative organizations, 16 state think tanks and 24 government-affiliated institutions. About 20 key government organizations remain in Seoul including the foreign, defense, unification and gender equality ministries.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link, but the move the Sejong City reminds me a lot of the move to Camp Humphreys by USFK. That move took much longer than it should of because people were comfortable at Yongsan Garrison in Seoul and thus no urgency to complete the move. There is probably few people working in the Korean government that want to move out of Seoul as well to a rural area as well.

President Elect Yoon is going to see a full pressure campaign to get him to stop the move to the Ministry of Defense. It doesn’t matter where you work, established interests are always hesitant to embrace change:

The office of President Moon Jae-in voiced concerns Monday about President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol’s plan to move the presidential office out of Cheong Wa Dae, saying it could leave a security vacuum at a time of rising tensions on the Korean Peninsula.

Park Soo-hyun, senior presidential secretary for public communication, made the remark to reporters after a National Security Council meeting, saying it is unreasonable to relocate the defense ministry, the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) and the presidential office in such a short period of time before Yoon’s May 10 inauguration.

“Now is the time to unite security capabilities, as the security crisis on the Korean Peninsula is escalating,” Park said. “Therefore, it is necessary to look sufficiently into concern that sudden, unprepared relocations of the defense ministry, the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Cheong Wa Dae crisis management center could cause a security vacuum and confusion.”

Park said Cheong Wa Dae will convey its concerns to Yoon’s transition team. 

Yoon’s spokesperson expressed regret and said they will stick to the relocation plans.

“If President Moon Jae-in refuses to cooperate on an essential part of the most significant project in the transfer of power, there is no way to force him,” Kim Eun-hye said in a statement.

Upon taking office, she said, Yoon will continue to work from his current temporary office in Tongeui-dong near Cheong Wa Dae to handle pressing state affairs, making clear once again that Yoon will not move into Cheong Wa Dae.

“At the stroke of midnight on May 10, President-elect Yoon will fulfill his promise to fully open Cheong Wa Dae without fail,” she added.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Yoon Suk-yeol campaigned on reducing the size of the Presidential office and it appears moving it out of the Blue House to possibly the Defense Ministry compound is how he plans to do this:

The defense ministry compound in Yongsan, central Seoul, has emerged as a new candidate to host the incoming Yoon Suk-yeol government’s presidential office, officials close to the president-elect said Tuesday.

Yoon is pushing for the dismantling of Cheong Wa Dae, a secluded compound of the current presidential office and residence, and its relocation to the Seoul Government Complex in Gwanghwamun Square at the heart of the capital in accordance with his campaign pledges to depart from imperial presidency and better communicate with people and the press.

But critics have raised concern that Gwanghwamun, a busy downtown area, is unfit as the venue of the presidential office and its supplementary facilities due to security and other reasons.

Yoon is now actively considering relocating Cheong Wa Dae, also known as the Blue House, to Yongsan’s defense ministry compound due to its potential advantages in security management, according to the officials.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but the article states the Defense Ministry has enough office space to accommodate the amount of Presidential office employees Yoon plans to bring over. If this happens this will be a big win for the ROK military which will have easier access to the incoming Yoon administration.

There really isn’t much the ROK can do to stop North Korea’s missile development other than making sure they have adequate ballistic missile defense in place:

 South Korea’s Defense Minister Suh Wook inspected the combat readiness of the military’s missile command Monday amid a recent series of North Korea’s missile launches, the ministry said.

“Understanding the gravity of the current situation, the troops must maintain a thorough readiness position against any situations,” Suh was quoted as saying during his visit to the Army Missile Command.

He said the military’s ability to detect missiles and respond to possible attacks is more crucial than in the past, as North Korea’s recent provocations pose a serious threat to the peace and security of South Korea and the world.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

As always when it comes to fake news, what is important is who is the one defining what North Korea related fake news is?:

South Korea’s Ministry of Unification (MOU) has set aside funding to start systematically monitoring “fake news” related to North Korea next year, though it is unclear whether the government plans to levy penalties for reports deemed false.

The ministry has earmarked $170,000 (200 million won) for the project to counter fake news in its budget for the fiscal year 2022. Announced on Friday, the budget’s total amount reaches $1.27 billion (1.5 trillion won), a 1.86% increase from 2021.

“There are frequent occasions when misinformation or manipulated information related to North Korea gets spread mainly through new media,” unification ministry spokesperson Lee Jong-joo said in a regular briefing on Monday, referring primarily to online platforms.

“Hence, the purpose [of this project],” she said, “comes from the need for more systematic monitoring, considering how such incidents cause various bad influences such as distorting the environment for pursuing policies.”

NK News

You can read more at the link.