Category: Politics-Korea

It is probably a day of celebration in the Cho Kuk household:

A court sentenced former first lady Kim Keon Hee to one year and eight months in prison Wednesday after finding her guilty of accepting luxury gifts from the Unification Church.

The Seoul Central District Court, however, acquitted Kim on charges of involvement in a stock manipulation scheme and violating the Political Funds Act.

Special counsel Min Joong-ki’s team had sought a 15-year prison term for Kim.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but what I find interesting about this ruling is that Kim Keon-hee is receiving more jail time than rapists have received.

It will be interesting to see if President Lee considers a pardon for Han because a 23 year prison sentence that would see him spend the rest of his life in prison is harsh:

Former Prime Minister Han Duck-soo (C) arrives at the Seoul Central District Court in the capital on Jan. 21, 2026, to attend the sentencing hearing of his trial on insurrection charges. (Yonhap)

Former Prime Minister Han Duck-soo was sentenced to 23 years in prison Wednesday for playing a key role in an insurrection by abetting former President Yoon Suk Yeol’s brief imposition of martial law

The court said the former prime minister took part in the insurrection by proposing that Yoon convene a Cabinet meeting before declaring the decree.

Han did not voice his opposition to the declaration during the Cabinet meeting and appeared to have encouraged then Interior Minister Lee Sang-min to execute Yoon’s orders to cut off power and water to media outlets critical of the administration, it said.

“The defendant had a duty as a prime minister indirectly given democratic legitimacy and the responsibility for it to follow the Constitution and laws and make every effort to realize and defend the Constitution,” the judge said during the sentencing hearing, which was televised live.

“Even so, he neglected this duty and responsibility until the end, thinking the Dec. 3 insurrection might succeed, and chose to take part as a member,” he added.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Another Democratic Party member has been caught up in a bribery scandal:

This file composite image shows Rep. Kang Sun-woo (L), formerly of the ruling Democratic Party, and Kim Kyung, a Seoul city councilor accused of delivering 100 million won (US$67,900) to Kang. (Yonhap)

Police have summoned a former ruling Democratic Party (DP) lawmaker to appear for questioning next week over allegations of accepting 100 million won (US$67,900) from a Seoul city councilor ahead of the 2022 local elections, sources said Thursday.

The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency’s public crimes investigation team recently notified Rep. Kang Sun-woo, who recently quit the DP after the bribery allegations surfaced late last month, for her appearance on Tuesday, according to the sources.

Kang is accused of accepting the alleged bribe from councilor Kim Kyung via her then aide, which was allegedly given in exchange for Kim’s councilorship nomination in the lead up to the 2022 elections.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but it seems regardless of the party these bribes seemed to be part of Korean politics.

President Lee and Prime Minister Takaichi continue to appear to get along quite well. Hopefully this continues:

President Lee Jae Myung said Tuesday he has emphasized the need for trilateral cooperation among Seoul, Tokyo and Beijing as he held summit talks with Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, amid heightened diplomatic tensions between Japan and China. 

“I emphasized the need for the three Northeast Asian countries — Korea, Japan and China — to identify as much common ground as possible in order to communicate and cooperate,” Lee said in a joint press announcement after the summit. 

The summit talks with Takaichi came after Lee held summit talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing earlier this month, at a time when tensions have been running high between Beijing and Tokyo over Takaichi’s remarks on Taiwan.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but it appears Lee is trying to position himself as a mediator between Beijing and Tokyo. I doubt Lee will influence China in anyway in regards to Japan. Taiwan is one of those issues where the CCP shows no flexibility and will always overreact on.

This would be a dream outcome for the Korean left if President Yoon receives the death penalty:

A special counsel team has requested the death penalty for former President Yoon Suk Yeol over his failed imposition of martial law, describing him as the ringleader of an insurrection who sought to stay in power by seizing control of the judiciary and legislature.

Special counsel Cho Eun-suk’s team made the request during the final hearing of Yoon’s trial at the Seoul Central District Court on Tuesday, just over a year after the then president declared martial law on Dec. 3, 2024, with the stated aim of eradicating anti-state forces.

The court plans to hand down its ruling on Yoon’s case on Feb. 19.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Regardless of the political party, I wonder how many political seats in Korea are influenced by bribery?:

A former member of Seoul’s Dongjak Ward Council (R) appears at an office of the Seoul Metropolitan Police in the capital on Jan. 8, 2026, to undergo questioning about his alleged delivery of cash to Democratic Party Rep. Kim Byung-kee. (Yonhap)

Police on Thursday questioned a former local council member over his claim that he delivered 10 million won (US$6,900) in cash to ruling party lawmaker Kim Byung-kee in the hopes of a nomination for the 2020 parliamentary elections.

The former member of Seoul’s Dongjak Ward Council was questioned as a suspect at an office of the Seoul Metropolitan Police after disclosing the apparent bribe in a petition submitted to former Rep. Lee Su-jin of the ruling Democratic Party (DP) in late 2023.

Lee recently mentioned the petition to the press amid a snowballing corruption scandal involving Kim and his family. Kim stepped down as DP floor leader last week to take responsibility for the various allegations of misconduct.

In the petition, the former council member reportedly claimed that his wife offered a Lunar New Year’s gift and 5 million won in cash to Kim’s wife ahead of the 2020 parliamentary election but that they were rejected for being “too much for a gift and too little” for a nomination.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

President Lee’s approval rating may be trending downward, but it is still very high for a Korean President:

 President Lee Jae Myung’s approval rating slightly fell to 53.4 percent last week, a survey showed Monday, amid mixed public responses over the livestreaming of his policy briefings from government ministries. 

The survey by Realmeter showed the positive assessment of Lee’s overall performance dropped 0.9 percentage point from the previous week to 53.4 percent, while the negative evaluation rose 0.7 percentage point to 42.2 percent.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

It is going to be interesting to see how many politicians end up being connected to the Unification Church, so far one minister resigning:

The Unification Church’s alleged bribery of ruling bloc figures is hitting the Lee Jae Myung administration, with one minister resigning over his alleged money acceptance from the religious organization and several other top officials also under similar suspicion.

It is feared that the scandal will further shake the administration if more ministers and officials fall under suspicion. It could also extend to influencing the ruling bloc’s strategies and nominations for next June’s local elections.

Oceans and Fisheries Minister Chun Jae-soo submitted his resignation early Thursday, amid allegations that he received between 30 million won ($20,377) to 40 million won in cash and two luxury watches from an official of the Unification Church, which sought his influence in its project to build an undersea tunnel connecting Korea and Japan.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

It appears the Unification Church attempts to bribe whoever is in power to advocate for what they want. In the U.S. this bribery is called lobbying which usually ends up with “donations” to a campaign fund:

Unification Minister Chung Dong-young said Wednesday that he intends to issue a public statement on Thursday addressing allegations he received bribes linked to the Unification Church, signaling confidence in his innocence.

“I will issue a statement tomorrow morning,” Chung told reporters. “So it will probably turn out to be quite anticlimactic. I will clearly lay out the basic facts and what actually happened. Please trust me. Trust my integrity.”

Chung made the remarks after the final court hearing began for Yun Young-ho, the former head of the church’s global headquarters who has been accused of providing luxury gifts to first lady Kim Keon Hee in a broader corruption scandal linked to ousted former President Yoon Suk Yeol.

Yun had earlier suggested he could reveal a list of politicians from the ruling Democratic Party of Korea who were allegedly lobbied by the church, but the final hearing concluded without any such disclosures. Chung has repeatedly been mentioned as a key figure in connection with alleged lobbying efforts.

The Unification Church has been at the center of one of South Korea’s most combustible political scandals in recent years, involving allegations of illegal political funding, influence peddling and improper ties with figures linked to the main opposition People Power Party — a controversy that is now spreading to the ruling Democratic Party.

The scandal gained fresh momentum after Yun’s court testimony on Friday suggested the church had also sought contacts with politicians from the Democratic Party.

Yun testified that the church had closer ties to Democratic Party politicians from 2017 to 2021 than with the People Power Party. He also alleged that he approached four minister-level officials of the current Lee Jae Myung administration prior to the church’s “Korean Peninsula Peace Summit” in 2022.

Korea Herald

You can read more at the link.

The purge of President Lee’s political enemies using the martial law scandal continues:

 A special counsel team indicted former People Power Party (PPP) floor leader Rep. Choo Kyung-ho on Sunday on charges related to ousted former President Yoon Suk Yeol’s failed martial law bid last December.

Special counsel Cho Eun-suk’s investigation team said Choo was indicted without physical detention on allegations that he blocked party lawmakers from participating in a parliamentary vote to lift the martial law decree issued on Dec. 3 last year. (……..)

Choo, once considered a key ally of Yoon, is accused of deliberately and repeatedly changing the venue of an emergency party meeting on the night of Dec. 3 at the request of Yoon. The PPP was the ruling party when Yoon was the president.

Due to the changes, only 18 of the PPP’s 108 lawmakers took part in the parliamentary vote to lift Yoon’s decree, which passed unanimously early the next morning among the 190 lawmakers present.

Choo immediately denounced prosecutors for what he called an “unwarranted” indictment based on fabricated charges, claiming he had not received any request from Yoon regarding the martial law.

“The special counsel proceeded ahead with its political indictment without further evidence, even after its request for an arrest warrant was dismissed for failing to substantiate the charges,” Choo said in a press release, accusing the investigation team of political persecution.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.