Category: Politics-Korea

Here we go with yet another whistleblower, this time in the Finance Ministry, who is claiming that the Blue House pressured the ministry to raise the national debt. This happened back in 2017 after the Moon administration took power. The supposed goal was to immediately inflate the national debt and blame it on the prior Park administration and then create the appearance of decreasing it over time to make the Moon administration look good even though they were the ones that jacked up the national debt in the first place:

The controversy between an ex-bureaucrat whistle-blower and the government is entering a new phase. 

The 32-year-old former employee of the Ministry of Economy and Finance, Shin Jae-min, held a press conference Wednesday in which he disclosed the name of the former Blue House secretary who pressured the Finance Ministry to keep the national debt-to-GDP ratio high to make the previous Park Geun-hye administration look bad. 

“It’s Blue House secretary [for economic policy] Cha Young-hwan,” Shin said. 

Cha was appointed second vice minister in the Office for Government Policy Coordination last month.

Shin said he has heard it directly not only from then-Finance Minister and Deputy Prime Minister for the Economy Kim Dong-yeon but also from lower-level employees at the Finance Ministry as they talked on the phone with the Blue House. 

“I heard the calls from the Blue House and the unreasonable orders,” Shin said. “I’ve experienced it all.” 

He said it infuriated him that even when the finance minister decided not to issue deficit-financing bonds, the Blue House forced the ministry to. 

Deficit-covering bonds are normally issued when the state’s spending exceeds tax revenues.

He said Finance Minister Kim gave the goal of raising the national debt-to-GDP ratio up to 39.4 percent. 

According to Shin, the Finance Ministry was looking for ways of reducing an issuing of 8.7 trillion won ($7.8 billion) worth of deficit-financing bonds since tax collections had exceeded the government’s initial goal. 

Printing the bonds would only raise the nation’s debt.

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read much more at the link, but the Blue House’s response as usual when it comes to whistleblowers has said these are all lies and has threatened Shin with legal action for releasing state secrets.

Another big thing no one has talked about yet in regards to this issue is, what is the Moon administration planning to do with all the extra money they needlessly raised the national debt to obtain? Is this the money they plan to give to Kim Jong-un?

According to the Blue House there is nothing to see here, move along:

President Moon Jae-in’s secretary for civil affairs said Monday that the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae has not surveilled civilians for political purposes, shrugging off a former investigator’s spying claim.
Controversy has flared up after Kim Tae-woo, a former special investigator at the presidential office, made the revelation that he had collected information, including info about civilians and former bureaucrats who should not be subject to Cheong Wa Dae surveillance.
Surveillance of civilians has been a sensitive issue in South Korea as former conservative governments were blamed for illegally spying on citizens for political purposes.
Cho Kuk, Moon’s top secretary for civil affairs, and Chief of Staff Im Jong-seok flatly rejected Kim’s claim at a meeting of the parliamentary steering committee that oversees Cheong Wa Dae. Kim was under Cho’s supervision.
It marked the first time since 2006 that a presidential secretary for civil affairs spoke at the parliamentary panel.
The revelation came after Kim was forced to return to his original post at the prosecution last month over an allegation that he sought to influence a police probe into a corruption case involving his acquaintance.
“The bottom line is that as Kim has become almost certain to face disciplinary actions due to his irregularities, he crafted a rare hoax by distorting the due work process into a political issue and trying to cover up his misconduct,” Cho told lawmakers.
The presidential civil affairs team under the Moon government has not surveilled civilians or drawn up blacklists (of people critical of the government) unlike other previous administrations),” he stressed.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Here is the latest on the Moon administration’s growing “blacklist” scandal:

The opposition Liberty Korea Party (LKP) urged the Blue House on Thursday to respond to suspicions that it compiled a blacklist of executives at public organizations affiliated with the Environment Ministry early this year, the latest in two weeks of revelations about illegal surveillance by President Moon Jae-in and his top aides. 

The LKP initially raised the blacklist allegation on Wednesday in a press briefing, while revealing to local reporters a document leaked by an anonymous former member of the Blue House special inspection bureau. The member claimed that his team specifically ordered the Environment Ministry to draft the report, which the ministry submitted last January. (………)

On Wednesday, the LKP revealed to reporters a document that was roughly entitled, “The trend of resignation of executives at organizations affiliated with the Environment Ministry.” Below that was a subtitle that read, “The status of resignation of executives at eight public organizations under the Environment Ministry.” A short summary of the report explicitly stated that “resignation procedures were proceeding without any particular disturbance or backlash except in the Korea Environment Corporation.” 

A total of 24 executives of those eight organizations were listed in the report, profiling their affiliation, job rank, name, term and “status quo.” Among those figures, 14 were said to have submitted resignations and three were said to have been planning to.

Former LKP Rep. Kim Yong-nam, who is a member of a committee within the conservative party looking into the whistle-blowing scandal, said during Wednesday’s press conference that the former Blue House special inspection bureau member who provided the document said he personally received the report around Jan. 15 from a high-ranking official in the Environment Ministry. 

Joong Ang Ilbo

This environmental blacklist reminds me some what of what the Moon administration did to consolidate control over public media broadcasters. They pressured executives to resign by having union thugs harass and threaten them. Once the executives resigned they were replaced by the Moon administration with left wing advocates.

In this case it appears they pressured government employees within the Environmental Ministry to resign in order to put in place employees that shared left wing values.

What is driving the criticism of the blacklist is that the Moon administration put the Chief of Staff of the prior Park administration Kim Ki-choon in jail for three years for running a so called “cultural blacklist” that prevented left wing affiliated artists from getting government funding. What he did is arguably not as bad as what is alleged here where people were actually forced out of their jobs.

It seems like every week President Moon Jae-in’s approval rating continues to fall to a new low, however I don’t think it is low enough to really effect any change in his current North Korea policies yet:

President Moon Jae-in’s approval rating dropped to a record low last week, a poll showed Monday.

According to a survey by pollster Realmeter, 47.1 percent of the public said they approved of Moon’s performance, down 1.4 percentage points from last week. 

Amid an ongoing controversy over the alleged surveillance of civilians by Cheong Wa Dae, the approval rating fell to the lowest in three weeks, according to Realmeter. 

Korea Times

You can read more at the link, but his approval rating continues to fall despite controlling most of the news media in South Korea and imprisoning and launching lawsuits against journalists that oppose him.

In today’s connected society it is not very smart to make a comment like this about the Philippines and not expect to get blowback:

Many Filipinos have reacted with fury after a Korean lawmaker belittled their country during a recent interview with Korean daily Dong-A Ilbo.

The reactions came after Rep. Lee Un-ju of the minor right-wing Bareunmirae Party said the people of Korea “would have lived in a country worse than the Philippines” if former military dictator Park Chung-hee had not ruled the country.

“Filipino soldiers shed their blood and died in Korea,” Romeo Santos Mandinggin, a Filipino man and a fan of Korean culture, told The Korea Times. “By all means she should (apologize), but I doubt she will.”

Belittling the Philippines, which was one of the first countries to send troops to South Korea during the Korean War (1950-53), is nothing but a disgraceful act, another Filipino said.

“The Philippines may not be as rich as Korea is right now, but part of Korea’s development is due to the help of Filipinos even after the war,” Jerry Yusi said.

The lawmaker made the comment as she defended the economic policies of Park, whom she compared with former dictators in other countries such as the Philippines’ Ferdinand Marcos.

“There have been many dictators across East Asia and Africa,” Lee said. “Most of them failed to develop the economy, unlike former President Park. We should recognize his achievement.”  [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link, but if you haven’t already I recommend reading my prior posting about Hero of the Korean War, Lieutenant Colonel Dionisio Ojeda who led Filipino troops during the Korean War.

https://www.rokdrop.net/2016/03/heroes-of-the-korean-war-lieutenant-colonel-dionisio-ojeda/

Another week and yet another new low approval rating for President Moon:

President Moon Jae-in’s approval rating dropped to 52.5 percent, the lowest level since taking power in May 2017, affected by a stagnating economy with no signs of an immediate rebound and stalled talks on North Korea’s denuclearization.

In a poll by Realmeter of 1,505 adults nationwide from Monday through Wednesday, Moon’s popularity dropped 1.2 percent points to 52.5 percent in an eighth straight week of declines. The previous lowest point was 53.1 percent polled in the second week of September, right before his third summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Pyongyang.

Approval hovering just above the 50 percent mark is a stark contrast to earlier this year when they surged to around 80 percent on hopes for a breakthrough with North Korea, which contributed to a sweeping victory in local elections in June.  [Joong Ang Ilbo]

You can read more at the link.

It is interesting that the authorities are going after the wife of a political rival for allegedly spreading rumors online, but a coordinated online opinion rigging scandal for the President of Korea they quietly let go away:

The police have determined that a disputed Twitter account that spread false election rumors belongs to the wife of Gyeonggi Province Governor Lee Jae-myung.

The cyber unit at Gyeonggi Nambu Provincial Police Agency said Saturday that it will ask prosecutors early next week to indict Kim Hye-gyeong on charges of violating the Public Official Election Act.

A police official said details will not be disclosed to the media as Kim denies the charges and a legal battle is expected.

False information was posted on the Twitter account in question in April during the ruling Democratic Party’s primary race for the Gyeonggi governorship. The claim was damaging to her husband’s rival candidate.

The account also falsely claimed in late 2016 that then presidential hopeful Moon Jae-in’s son received employment favors.

The police analyzed some 40-thousand Tweets to identify the account’s owner and concluded that it belongs to the governor’s wife.  [KBS World Radio]

The Moon admin's political suppression in the name of "jeokpae cheongsan" (elimination of deep rooted evil) continues. Its target #1 is Park Seung-chun, former Minister of Veterans & Patriots. He was found not guilty on 5 charges. So now they set up comttee to investigate again. https://t.co/VmhGwfmBux

— Tara O (@DrTaraO) October 17, 2018

President Moon needs to have his third Inter-Korean Summit hurry up and happen this month so he can get some more smiling pictures with Kim Jong-un to improve his rapidly dropping approval rating.  It dropped another six points this week because of economic woes:

A new survey finds President Moon Jae-in’s job approval rating has slipped below 50 percent for the first time.

Gallup Korea surveyed one-thousand adults nationwide, out of which 49 percent of respondents said the president is doing a good job. That’s down four percentage points from last week when the figure posted a new low.

It marked the first time for the president’s approval rating surveyed by Gallup Korea to stand in the 40 percent range.

Among those who had positive opinions about Moon’s performance, 16 percent picked improved relations with North Korea as the reason for giving a positive evaluation. Some eleven percent cited Moon’s North Korea and security policies while ten percent said they think the president gives his best and works hard.

Meanwhile, 41 percent of those who had a negative view about the president’s job cited lack of progress in addressing economic and livelihood issues as the reason for their evaluation. Some eight percent pointed at inter-Korean ties and seven percent at the minimum wage hike.   [KBS World Radio]

20 years is the sentence the Moon administration prosecutors are recommending that former President Lee Myung-bak be given if convicted of the corruption allegations against him:

Prosecutors on Thursday requested that a Seoul court sentence former President Lee Myung-bak to 20 years in prison for corruption and other charges.

The demand was delivered to the three-judge panel at the Seoul Central District Court in Lee’s trial that began in early May. Prosecutors also called for a 15 billion-won (US$13.4 million) fine and a forfeiture of 11.1 billion won for the disgraced ex-leader.

The court’s ruling is scheduled for Oct. 5.

Lee, president from 2008-2013, was indicted in April on 16 counts of corruption ranging from bribery, abuse of power and embezzlement to other irregularities. He has been under presentencing detention since his arrest in late March.

Lee’s charges center on long-held suspicions, which dogged him throughout most of his political career, that he is the real owner of an auto parts company named DAS and used his presidential powers to benefit the company as well as himself and his family.

Part of the bribes also includes $5.85 million in lawsuit expenses Samsung Electronics Co. allegedly paid on behalf of DAS.

The former Seoul mayor is also accused of taking about 11.1 billion won in bribes from the state intelligence agency and a former head of a state-run banking firm. Prosecutors suspect he embezzled about 35 billion won from DAS and used it for personal purposes.  [Yonhap]

Here is Lee Myung-bak’s response to the charges:

In Thursday’s hearing, Lee vented anger over the charges and maintained his innocence.

“I cannot stand how the charges against me have caught me in the trap of such a stereotypical image that everything is linked to money,” he told the court. “It is so humiliating as a person who has lived his whole life loathing corruption and back-scratching and being so vigilant against such things.”

Lee again denied ownership of DAS and said he never accepted anything from a conglomerate or its chief, referring to Samsung Group Chairman Lee Kun-hee.

“I do not own a single share in DAS … and I feel saddened, beyond rage, that (they) prosecuted me for freeing Chairman Lee in exchange for the lawsuit fees,” he said.

“All I have is the house I live in.”

It has long been suspected that the charges brought against Lee were political retaliation for the corruption investigation brought against former President Roh Moo-hyun during President Lee’s time in office.  Roh ended up committing suicide because of the investigation.  The Chief of Staff for President Roh was current President Moon Jae-in:

His lawyer accused prosecutors of carrying out a far-fetched investigation and called for a wise judgment by the court.

The charges against Lee are punishable by up to life imprisonment.

The scandal tainted his long-established image of a self-made man who started off as a salaryman and rose to the top post at one of the country’s leading companies in only 11 years, before he entered politics in 1992.

Lee has insisted this trial is political retaliation by the office of President Moon Jae-in over the death of late President Roh Moo-hyun, Lee’s predecessor. Roh committed suicide in 2009 while under a prosecution investigation into a slew of corruption allegations.

Lee’s associates have claimed that Moon, a key Roh ally who served as Roh’s chief of staff, is trying to force the same humiliation back on Lee.

The 76-year-old is the fourth former president to face a criminal trial after ex-Presidents Chun Doo-hwan, Roh Tae-woo and Park Geun-hye. Park is serving a 25-year jail term for corruption, pending a top court decision.

It will be interesting to see how this turns out, but considering the influence that the ruling party can have over the courts I fully expect that Lee will be convicted giving the Korean left the payback they have long demanded against former President Lee.