More corruption charges have come up against former President Park claiming she was receiving kickbacks from SK and Lotte in order to get a new warrant to keep her detained for up to six more months:
A Seoul court on Friday extended the detention of former President Park Geun-hye who stands trial in a massive corruption case that led to her ouster early this year.
The Seoul Central District Court approved an additional arrest warrant for Park, acknowledging that she may destroy evidence.
The fresh warrant allows authorities to keep her in detention for another six months, until April 16, 2018. Her initial arrest warrant was due to expire Monday. Prosecutors made the request late last month saying more time is needed to finish court procedures.
Given the gravity of the case and public concern, the prosecution has said it plans to finish the remaining court interrogations of witnesses before the end of this year to speed up the pace.
The court has held 80 trial sessions for Park’s case since May — four sessions every week since June.
She was removed from office and arrested in March on charges of bribery and abuse of power. She stands accused of colluding with her longtime friend Choi Soon-sil in taking some 43 billion won (US$37 million) from top conglomerates, including Samsung, and letting her friend meddle in state affairs.
The additional warrant has been issued based on the charges that were not included in the first warrant, in which the prosecution accused Park of taking or demanding kickbacks from two other conglomerates — SK and Lotte. [Yonhap]
Is it just me or is the detention of former President Park really beginning to stink with the Blue House suddenly finding documents in regards to the Sewol tragedy to hopefully keep her imprisoned? I thought they had all this evidence of her corruption to keep her imprisoned?:
Presidential Chief of Staff Im Jong-seok shows the enlarged documents from the former Park Geun-hye administration that have allegedly been manipulated to falsify the time of the first report to Park on the Sewol ferry sinking in a press briefing held at the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae in Seoul on Oct. 12, 2017. (Yonhap)
The presidential office Cheong Wa Dae said Thursday that it has found documents from the former administration that show the former president may have lied about her role in dealing with the tragic sinking of the Sewol ferry three years ago.
The documents, found in the crisis management office at Cheong Wa Dae, included a daily journal from the office drafted April 16, 2014, when the passenger ferry sank in waters off the country’s western coast, killing more than 300 people, according to Im Jong-seok, the presidential chief of staff.
Im said the daily log showed the first report of the accident was made to then-President Park Geun-hye at 9:30 a.m., instead of at 10 a.m., as earlier claimed by the ousted leader and her aides.
The Cheong Wa Dae official said the document was revised Oct. 23, 2014, to say the first report was made at 10 a.m.
“The reason they pushed back the time of the first report to the president by half an hour appears to have been an attempt to reduce the time between the first report and Park’s first order, said to have been made at around 10:15 a.m.,” Im said at a press briefing, apparently suggesting a 45-minute gap between the first report and the first order would have aggravate criticism for her inaction during the accident that left 304 people dead. [Yonhap]
Former President Lee Myung-bak (C) leaves his office in Seoul on Sept. 28, 2017, in this image taken from Yonhap News TV. Lee castigated President Moon Jae-in’s sweeping campaign to address the alleged misdeeds of previous governments. “I am watching these events unfolding in the name of eliminating the accumulated ills surrounding the previous governments, when the security situation is grave and people’s livelihoods are difficult,” Lee, who led the country from 2008-2013, wrote on Facebook the same day. (Yonhap)
An alleged dirty trick that was used against President Moon during the presidential campaign has led to one arrest and maybe more to come:
Lee You-mi, a member of minor opposition People’s Party, enters the courthouse in Seoul for a court review on the prosecution’s request of her arrest warrant over false allegations she made against President Moon Jae-in’s son on June 29, 2017. (Yonhap)
A member of a minor opposition party was arrested Thursday for making false allegations about President Moon Jae-in’s son during the election campaign earlier this year.
A Seoul court approved the prosecution’s request for the arrest warrant for Lee You-mi, a member of the People’s Party, on charges of spreading misinformation in violation of the election law.
Lee is accused of fabricating a story in the lead up to the May 9 presidential election about an unfair hiring of Moon Joon-yong by a public agency in late 2006, when his father was a presidential secretary.
She had been held in custody for questioning by the prosecution since early this week.
Lee reportedly confessed to creating the anonymous tip-off by concocting an audio file and a captured screenshot of mobile phone chat disguising them as records of conversation with a man claiming to be a friend of Joon-yong’s exposing the alleged preferred treatment.
Lee handed them to a former senior party official named Lee Jun-seo. The prosecution has barred the official from overseas travel on suspicions that he is behind the smearing scheme. The prosecution is set to summon him for questioning this week. [Yonhap]
You can read more at the link, but according to the article the former Presidential candidate for the people’s party Ahn Cheol-soo has not commented on this allegation yet. If a political party is going to try and play dirty tricks like this they had better hope they win because as we have seen before President’s in Korea will go after their enemies.
Probably not the smartest move to write a book saying things like this and then expect to be involved in politics:
Tak Hyun-min
Cheong Wa Dae official Tak Hyun-min, who got into hot water last month over sexist remarks, is under more fire after another book he co-wrote featured similar sentiments.
In “The more I talk, the freer I become” he wrote: “I lost my virginity to a middle school student when I was in high school. She was not pretty, but it didn’t matter because she was just a sex object.”
He even said he had “shared” the student with his classmates.
He also said: “Men’s sexual fantasy is always with teachers … when I was a student, I would feel horny even with pregnant teachers.'” (………)
Even female lawmakers from the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) have called for Tak’s resignation. (…….)
“Guidebook of Men’s Mind” contained phrases such as: “It’s like a terror attack against men if a woman with a flat chest wears a tank top.” [Korea Times]
You can read more at the link, but both conservative and liberal parties in Korea are calling for Mr. Tak to resign.
Chung Yoo-ra, daughter of a woman on trial on corruption charges that brought down the country’s former president, appears at a Seoul court on June 20, 2017, for deliberation on her arrest writ. The prosecution sought a warrant for Chung’s arrest for the second time after the court rejected the previous request. The prosecution says Chung was aware of the bribes and law violations that her mother, Choi Soon-sil, is accused of, including her illegitimate college admission. Choi was a close associate of former President Park Geun-hye. (Yonhap)
President Moon Jae-in Sunday defiantly appointed Kang Kyung-wha foreign minister over the bitter objection of opposition parties, raising the prospect of war between the Blue House and ruling Democratic Party and the opposition going forward. Following weeks of controversy over Kang’s ethical breaches, especially a fake residential registration to allow her daughter to attend a school of her choice 17 years ago, Moon officially named the former United Nations official as foreign minister, making Kang the first female and non-career diplomat ever to lead the ministry responsible for foreign affairs. [Joong Ang Ilbo]
For UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is returning soon to South Korea. It will be interesting to see if in five years he will attempt to run for President again:
Ban Ki-moon
Former UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon will begin his tenure as distinguished professor and emeritus director of the Institute for Global Engagement at Yonsei University from July.
“The Institute for Global Engagement was established in April at the university to coordinate among students and professors activities including global and domestic missions and volunteer programs,” said Nam So-hyeon, a PR official at Yonsei University in western Seoul.
“It’s not yet decided what Ban will be teaching at the university.”
The university is also planning to open a sustainable growth center once Ban begins his tenure.
“Ban is known for his initiatives and engagement to combat climate change,” said Yonsei University President Kim Yong-hak.
“His participation at the center will bring about advances in its climate change research.”
Ban has been teaching at Harvard University as the Angelopoulos Global Public Leaders Fellow since April. [Joong Ang Ilbo]
A standard THAAD battery comes with six launchers, you would think the President’s staff would know this, even Wikipedia knows this:
A Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense battery launcher is being installed on a former golf course in Seongju, North Gyeongsang Province on Wednesday. /Yonhap
South Korea’s presidential office made it clear Tuesday that it has not received any formal briefing from the defense ministry on the presence of additional THAAD rocket launchers here.
The ministry said it has already briefed Cheong Wa Dae on the issue, responding to President Moon Jae-in’s call for a probe into the matter related to the allies’ missile defense system.
Moon said it’s “very shocking” that the ministry had kept secret or did not announce the introduction of four more THAAD rocket launchers, according to his spokesman Yoon Young-chan. The equipment arrived in Korea apparently weeks or months ago.
A ministry official, however, said Wee Seung-ho, deputy minister for policy, briefed Moon’s national security adviser Chung Eui-yong on pending defense issues last Friday.
“At that time, he reported the entry of four additional launchers (into South Korea),” the official said on the condition of anonymity, adding it reflects the ministry’s official position.
Moon’s office refuted the ministry’s statement.
There was no report on the extra THAAD launchers waiting to be installed at a former golf course in Seongju, North Gyeongsang Province, which has been chosen as the THAAD site, said Cheong Wa Dae.
One thing that seems certain is that Moon did not receive any briefing on the subject during his visit to the ministry a week after taking office. It’s not clear whether he first raised the THAAD issue.
The State Affairs Planning Advisory Committee, a de-facto transition team for Moon, also said that it was told about only two THAAD launchers in operation, not about the other four, when receiving a briefing from the ministry.
The truth behind the dispute remains unconfirmed. [Yonhap]
The Joong Ang Ilbo is reporting that the Defense Ministry may be trying avoid an environmental assessment for the four launchers:
“The president was briefed that four launchers, in addition to the two already installed in Seongju, were clandestinely brought in and stored in Korea,” Yoon Young-chan, senior secretary for public relations, said Tuesday. “Today, Moon ordered his senior secretary for civil affairs and chief of the national security office to conduct a thorough investigation over how the four additional launchers were brought in.” (…….)
“Moon asked his aides to investigate why the four additional launchers were brought in, who made the decision, why it was not made public and why the new administration was not told about it,” Yoon said. “He also ordered that the investigation must look into the suspicion that the four launchers were kept secret in order to avoid an environmental impact assessment.” [Joong Ang Ilbo]
If an environmental assessment was done for two launchers, what difference would four more make? They have to tear up a few more putting greens to put them in? It is not like an old growth rain forest needs to be cut down to put the launchers in.
You can read more at the link, but I would not be surprised if this is a political show to demonstrate to Moon’s supporters that the new administration is going to get tough on the Defense Ministry in regards to the THAAD deployment without actually changing the decision.
