Category: Politics-Korea

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.

This is the first time I have heard of an abuse of power allegations where a national assemblyman had aids do household chores for them. For all the things for a cabinet nominee to resign over, being too lazy to dump your own trash was not on my bingo card:

Gender Equality Minister nominee Kang Sun-woo stepped down Wednesday amid criticism over alleged workplace abuses during her time as a lawmaker.

Kang has come under fire during her parliamentary confirmation hearing for various allegations, including having legislative aides perform her household chores, such as disposing of food waste at her home.

“I offer my sincere apologies to the people for the pain I have caused,” Kang said on her Facebook page. “I humbly accept the criticism and will live with self-reflection.”

“I am truly sorry to President Lee Jae Myung, who trusted me and gave me this opportunity,” she added.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but the real question is does South Korea really need a Gender Ministry? What do they really do?

There was no way Lee Jae-myung was going to keep such a high popularity rating. Like all other ROK presidents before him his approval rating is beginning to slide the longer he is in office:

President Lee Jae Myung’s approval rating slid for the first time since his inauguration in June after rising for five consecutive weeks, a survey showed Monday.

According to the survey by Realmeter and commissioned by a local news outlet, positive assessment of Lee’s performance fell 2.4 percentage points to 62.2 percent from the previous week, while negative assessment rose 2.3 percentage points to 32.3 percent.

The pollster said controversies surrounding ministerial nominees during last week’s confirmation hearings and damage from the recent torrential rains appear to have negatively affected the approval ratings.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Investigators clearly want to get their hands on the former first lady’s butler in order to put pressure on him to turn on Kim Keon-hee in an effort to arrest her. Jailing her is payback and revenge for what Yoon’s prosecutors did against the left wing politician Cho Kuk that saw him and his wife receive jail sentences:

A local court on Wednesday issued a detention warrant for a close aide of former first lady Kim Keon Hee amid growing suspicions that he evaded the special counsel’s probe into multiple allegations surrounding Kim.

The warrant was issued against Kim Ye-seong, known as the former first lady’s “butler” or close aide, due to concerns that he might ignore summons from investigative authorities without valid reasons, according to the special counsel team led by Min Joong-ki.

Kim is believed to have fled to Vietnam in April and has refused to comply with the special counsel’s summons.

Following the court’s decision, the special counsel is expected to move swiftly to invalidate Kim’s passport.

The aide is suspected of receiving 18 billion won (US$13.1 million) in dubious investments from several companies through his rental car company IMS in 2023.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Mr. Tan is claiming that President Lee was part of a gang rape and murder of a woman as a juvenile. I find this very hard to believe considering how long he has been in the public spotlight. Evidence of something like this occuring would have definitely leaked out by now:

Police have opened an investigation into a Korean American professor for possible defamation charges after he allegedly made damaging comments about President Lee Jae Myung with false information, officials said Tuesday.

The investigation against Morse Tan, dean of Liberty University School of Law, came after a conservative civic group had filed a complaint with the police, accusing Tan of defaming Lee by spreading false information about him.

In June, Tan said during an event in Washington that Lee had been involved in the gang rape and murder of a girl during his youth, and that he was sent to a juvenile detention center and unable to finish middle and high school.

The civic group said these claims are unfounded.

Tan, former U.S. ambassador-at-large for global criminal justice under the first Donald Trump administration, is known for promoting conspiracy theories about election fraud in South Korea.

According to the civic group that filed the complaint, Tan also claimed that the June 3 snap election won by Lee was rigged.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but with Tan currently in Korea it will be interesting if the ROK government tries to detain him or just let him go back to the U.S. and deny future entry.

We will see in a couple of years where his approval rating is at because new Presidents usually do have a honeymoon period when it comes to approval ratings:

President Lee Jae Myung’s approval rating rose for the fifth consecutive week to 64.6 percent, a survey showed Monday.

According to the survey by Realmeter and commissioned by a local news outlet, the positive assessment of Lee’s performance rose 2.5 percentage points from the previous week, while the negative assessment fell 1.4 percentage points to 30 percent.

The pollster said Lee’s approval rating has continued to rise for the fifth straight week since taking office on June 4.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.