Category: Politics-Korea

This presidential aide ends up being the fall guy when he wasn’t even the one doing the influence peddling the Deputy Floor Leader for the Democratic Party was. The aide simply responded to the text message. I am sure the presidential office will find this guy some other cush job somewhere for being agreeing to be the fall guy:

The presidential office said Thursday it has accepted the resignation of a presidential aide over allegations of influence-peddling, as the aide was linked to an improper request on personnel appointment. 

The office said Kim Nam-kuk, the presidential secretary for digital communications, offered his resignation earlier in the day. 

His resignation came two days after ruling Democratic Party (DP) deputy floor leader Moon Jin-seog was caught on camera reading a Telegram message between himself and Kim during a parliamentary session.

In the message captured on Moon’s mobile phone, Moon asked Kim to recommend an acquaintance to the top post of the Korea Automobile Manufacturers Association’s (KAMA). 

Kim replied that he will recommend the figure to presidential chief of staff Kang Hoon-sik and Kim Hyun-ji, a longtime aide of President Lee Jae Myung appointed as Lee’s personal secretary in September.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but this is what happened to Moon Jin-seog the actual guy trying to use his influence to get a friend of his appointed to a position:

On Wednesday, the presidential office said it issued a warning to “the official who had delivered inaccurate information in an improper manner,” referring to Kim.

The guy who tried to influence peddle gets a warning while the person who responded to the message is forced to resign.

The ruling party is continuing their purge of trying to jail or remove anyone in the government that has crossed them:

Tensions between the judicial branch and the ruling Democratic Party of Korea escalated Wednesday, as the party voted through an unprecedented motion to summon Supreme Court Chief Justice Jo Hee-de for a parliamentary hearing.

The conservative opposition People Power Party boycotted the vote and condemned the move as a fatal blow to the separation of powers.

Korea Herald

You can read more at the link, but the Korean left believes Jo conspired with the ruling party to throw out a lower court acquittal of an election law violation by President Lee prior to the election.

Lee Jae-myung’s should send President Trump a thank you card because his tariff rhetoric and crackdown on illegal Korean workers has caused the ROK President’s poll ratings to rise:

 President Lee Jae Myung’s approval rating edged up to 60 percent, a poll showed Friday.

In a Gallup Korea survey of 1,001 adults conducted Tuesday through Thursday, 60 percent gave a positive evaluation of Lee’s performance, up 2 percentage points from the previous week.

Lee’s approval rating, which had stayed above 60 percent following his summit with U.S. President Donald Trump in late August, slid to 58 percent as he marked his 100th day in office last week.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Here is another front of the purge the Lee administration is trying to do across the South Korean government:

Chief Justice Jo Hee-de denied Wednesday that he had colluded with ex-Prime Minister Han Duck-soo to render President Lee Jae Myung ineligible to run for president, with a guilty verdict that nearly stripped him of his candidacy to run for president in the June election.

The statement, delivered through the Supreme Court, was the first released by the judicial branch since the liberal ruling bloc ramped up pressure for Jo’s resignation.

“The political circles have raised speculations that Jo had met with former Prime Minister Han and discussed ways to handle (Lee’s) case concerning his (violation) of the Public Official Election Act,” read the statement. “But the chief justice has never discussed anything with anyone outside (the court) regarding the criminal case.”

This came amid political pressure urging that Jo resign from the post, labeling the Supreme Court’s 10-2 ruling in May to find Lee, who was then the presidential front-runner, guilty of making false claims with the intention to win the 2022 presidential election. The case was sent back to the high court, but court proceedings were halted after Lee won the June presidential election and was inaugurated.

Korea Herald

You can read more at the link.

It looks like the purge of Korean conservatives is continuing:

Prosecutors on Monday requested prison sentences for nearly a dozen lawmakers affiliated with the predecessor of the main opposition People Power Party (PPP) over their alleged involvement in a physical altercation at the National Assembly in 2019.

The Seoul Southern District Court is scheduled to deliver its verdict on Nov. 20, more than six years after the incident took place.

Prosecutors requested a two-year sentence for Rep. Na Kyung-won of the PPP, who served as the then main opposition Liberty Korea Party (LKP)’s floor leader at the time.

A 10-month prison term and a fine of 2 million won ($1,440) were sought for Rep. Song Eon-seog, the current PPP floor leader.

Prosecutors also sought a 1 1/2-year prison term for Hwang Kyo-ahn, former leader of the LKP.

In April 2019, the then ruling Democratic Party, in cooperation with minor opposition blocs, including the center-right Bareunmirae Party, sought to fast-track a package of reform bills. Among the key bills was legislation aimed at establishing an independent agency to investigate corruption involving high-ranking government officials.

Members of the LKP fiercely resisted the move, physically attempting to block the legislative process. The conflict escalated when Rep. Chae Yi-bae of the Bareunmirae Party was confined in his office for five hours by LKP members.

Following the incident, rival parties filed a total of 18 complaints against each other, involving charges such as assault, obstruction of business and defamation.

Korea Herald

You can read more at the link.

Does anyone think it is a coincidence that Cho Kuk received his pardon shortly after both Yoon’s were arrested and now sitting in jail?:

Former Justice Minister Cho Kuk was released from prison early Friday under a presidential pardon, after serving eight months of his sentence for academic fraud involving his daughter.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

This is just yet another part of Cho Kuk’s revenge plan against former President Yoon, to receive a pardon while Yoon and his wife and both likely headed to jail:

President Lee Jae Myung will preside over an extraordinary Cabinet meeting early this week to determine special pardons, his office said Sunday, amid growing speculation that he may grant a presidential pardon to former Justice Minister Cho Kuk.

The Cabinet meeting will take place at 2:30 p.m. on Monday, with the review and potential approval of matters related to special pardons, reinstatements and other considerations for clemency expected to be the focus, presidential spokesperson Kang Yu-jung said in a message to reporters. 

It is widely expected that Lee will make a decision on whether to grant a presidential pardon to Cho, who launched the minor Rebuilding Korea Party ahead of the general elections in April last year. 

Cho has reportedly been included on the potential list of beneficiaries of presidential pardons, raising the possibility of his early release from prison. 

Cho is currently serving a two-year prison term following a conviction on academic fraud charges involving his children and unlawful interference with a government inspection.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

What I find interesting about this is that the former ROK President Yoon Suk-yeol and his wife could face charges for trying to influence an internal party election. This stands is in comparison to the U.S. where members of the Democrat party meddled to remove a sitting President that had won his party’s primary for a female candidate that won no primaries. Nothing ever happened to the Democrats who meddled to remove Joe Biden:

A prominent opposition lawmaker appeared for questioning by a special counsel Sunday over his alleged involvement in the party’s candidate nominations for key elections in 2022 and 2024, reportedly at the behest of former President Yoon Suk Yeol and his wife. 

Rep. Yoon Sang-hyun of the main opposition People Power Party (PPP) arrived at the special counsel’s office in central Seoul at around 9:30 a.m.

“I will seriously, sincerely and faithfully cooperate with the investigation,” Yoon told a swarm of reporters before entering. 

Special counsel Min Joong-ki’s team is investigating allegations that the former president and his wife, Kim Keon Hee, exerted influence to have former lawmaker Kim Young-sun win the then ruling party’s nomination in the 2022 parliamentary by-elections.

In a previously disclosed phone call, allegedly recorded in May 2022, Yoon suggested to self-proclaimed power broker Myung Tae-kyun that he would instruct Rep. Yoon to make sure Kim wins the party nomination.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.