Category: Politics-Korea

I can’t imagine a scenario where Chung Yoo-ra, the person who started the ROK Presidential scandal, ever steps foot on Ewha Women’s University ever again.  If she was a dedicated student that went to school the current ROK Presidential scandal may have never come to light:

The Korean Equestrian Federation signed off fake documents for presidential confidante Choi Soon-sil’s daughter, Chung Yoo-ra, to excuse her absences from high school and offer credit for social volunteer work she never did, according to a joint investigation by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korean Sport and Olympic Committee on Wednesday.

The Culture Ministry requested that the Korean Equestrian Federation punish every official who gave the 20-year-old preferential treatment. It also pledged to fully cooperate with the independent counsel that is currently digging into the influence-peddling scandal surrounding her mother and President Park Geun-hye.

The Korean Sport and Olympic Committee will soon be forced to penalize Chung, an equestrian athlete who gained admission to the prestigious Ewha Womans University last year after applying for a spot available to students with special sports talents, said the ministry.

The university has yet to kick Chung out, although its board of trustees demanded earlier this month to “eternally expel” her and punish 15 school officials who gave her leeway in admission, test scores and class attendance records.  [Joong Ang Ilbo]

You can read more at the link, but like I have said before who else is getting special treatment?

I guess this guy figures he can ride out the ROK presidential scandal to its conclusion by remaining in hiding:

The National Assembly is getting close to tracking down Woo Byung-woo, the former presidential secretary for civil affairs who has been on the run to avoid questioning over his role in the abuse of power scandal that led to the impeachment of Park Geun-hye.

Its uncommon allies in the hunt: average angry Koreans.

Several people, including Woo and the presidential friend at the center of the scandal, Choi Soon-sil, did not obey summonses by a bipartisan special legislative committee that held a series of public hearings last week to grill key suspects in the scandal.

Former and current lawmakers have come together to offer a nearly 15 million won ($12,855) bounty for details on the whereabouts of Woo, who has earned the nickname “mikkuraji” (loach) in local media, a Korean term for someone hard to catch.

A personal aide of Rep. Sohn Hye-won from the main opposition Minjoo Party of Korea, who is one of the committee’s 18 members, said on a CBS radio show Tuesday morning that ordinary Koreans were eagerly hunting Woo down.  [Joong Ang Ilbo]

You can read the rest at the link, but the summons papers has to be handed to him in person to be legally binding.  This is why he is remaining in hiding so no one can hand him the papers that would legally force him to appear in public for questioning about the scandal.

It looks like it will be a few months before the ROK Constitutional Court rules on the legality of the impeachment of President Park Geun-hye:

The Constitutional Court said Monday it will scrutinize all grounds cited in the National Assembly’s motion to impeach President Park Geun-hye, indicating that the trial will be a long process, possibly as long as six months.

The court held its first meeting Monday morning to discuss how it will proceed with the trial. The National Assembly on Friday passed a motion to impeach Park for alleged constitutional and legal violations, as she gave a friend influence in state affairs.

Justice Bae Bo-yoon, spokesman of the Constitutional Court, said Monday that the court will review all grounds cited in the motion, rejecting speculation that the court would review only key charges to reach a speedy ruling.

“We cannot use our discretion to have selective hearings,” he said.  [Joong Ang Ilbo]

You can read more at the link.

It is official President Park has been impeached:

The National Assembly passed the motion to impeach President Park Geun-hye over a corruption scandal, Friday.

Park was suspended from office at 7:03 p.m. immediately after the result was officially delivered to the presidential office, and Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn began working as acting head of state.

The President’s fate is now in the hands of the Constitutional Court, which is expected to make a ruling on whether the impeachment was valid in a few months.

Park is the second Korean president to be impeached after the late President Roh Moo-hyun in 2004. Roh was able to return to office thanks to wide public support after the Constitutional Court overturned the Assembly’s decision.

The impeachment motion, signed by 171 opposition and independent lawmakers, passed overwhelmingly with 234 in favor, 56 against, two abstentions and seven invalid votes in the 300-member Assembly. Pro-Park lawmaker Choi Kyung-hwan of the ruling Saenuri Party was absent.

This well exceeded the necessary approval of two-thirds of the 300 lawmakers required for its passage. [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link, but the most significant thing that has happened is that South Korea now has a new acting President which is Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn.

So who is Hwang?  His a 59 year old lawyer who worked as a state prosecutor for 30 years before entering politics.  He is well known for being a close confidant of President Park.  In 2013 he served as the Justice Minister for Park before becoming the Prime Minister in 2015.  ROK Heads may remember that back in July Hwang was detained by protesters outside of the selected THAAD site and pelted with eggs.

I doubt Prime Minister Hwang will make any major policy decisions because of his close ties to Park that could lead to widespread public protests.  That is why I think he will probably just be keeping the seat warm until the Constitution Court reviews the impeachment.  The last impeachment of a ROK President occurred in 2004 with President Roh Moo-hyun.  The Constitutional Court took 63 days to rule that the impeachment was not legal and he was reinstated.  Considering the widespread public outrage against President Park I doubt she will be reinstated.  However, the court has up to six months to rule on the legality of the impeachment.  If they rule the impeachment is legal then an election will be held 60 days after the ruling.  I think the conservative party will want this to drag on so they can select a candidate and organize a campaign to run against the Korean left wing parties who have taken maximum political advantage of the Park Geun-hye crisis.

It will continue to be interesting to see how this all plays out over the next few months.

It will be interesting to see how this plays out, but the Korean left may be overplaying their hand with including the Sewol ferry tragedy as part of the reason for impeachment:

South Korea’s National Assembly on Thursday officially set the date for the vote on the impeachment of President Park Geun-hye who is at the center of the corruption scandal rocking the country.

The anonymous vote will take place on Friday during the parliamentary session at 3:00 p.m., with the fate of the president to be ultimately decided by the country’s Constitutional Court. Under the parliamentary law, an impeachment motion can be put up for vote 24 hours after being reported at the parliament.

The opposition parties handed in the motion to parliament last week, saying that Park violated the Constitution and other laws by allowing her confidante Choi Soon-sil to exert power in state affairs and enjoy unlawful benefits. State prosecutors have accused Park of being Choi’s accomplice.

A successful passage calls for approval from at least 200 lawmakers from the 300-seat National Assembly. Accordingly, at least 28 lawmakers from the ruling Saenuri Party must give it a nod, even if every single opposition and independent lawmaker votes for the impeachment.

A group of non-Park lawmakers in Saenuri said it has secured support from around 40 lawmakers, but uncertainties remain, with some casting doubts on the level of support.

While the group earlier asked the opposition parties to exclude the sinking of the Sewol ferry, which left more than 300 dead or missing, as one of the grounds for Park’s impeachment, the main opposition Democratic Party said it has no intention to do so.

The opposition parties claim Park failed to protect the safety of the people as stipulated by the Constitution.

The Park dissenters’ group said it will continue to persuade the opposition parties, adding the issue remains one of the major hurdles for Saenuri’s participation in the motion.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link, but like I have always said what does the political opposition think Park should have done when the ferry boat sunk?  Swim out into the ocean and rescue kids herself?  If they want to complain about lax safety regulations this has been an ongoing problem in Korea for decades long before Park ever took office.  It seems by trying to ram this into the impeachment proceedings will unnecessarily cause uncertainty now on whether the impeachment will pass.

Here is the latest twist and turn in the South Korean Presidential political crisis:

President Park Geun-hye said Tuesday she will go the full distance with the impeachment process and has no intention of voluntarily stepping down.

Ahead of the scheduled National Assembly vote on a presidential impeachment motion Friday, Park met with Saenuri Party Chairman Lee Jung-hyun and floor leader Chung Jin-suk at the Blue House. After the 55-minute meeting, which was proposed by Park, Chung returned to the ruling party and made public Park’s position on the fate of a presidency gravely threatened by an influence-peddling and abuse of power scandal.

“If the impeachment process is moved forward as scheduled, and if the motion is passed, I am ready to stay calm and composed during the Constitutional Court’s deliberation on the legality of the impeachment,” Park was quoted as saying. “When the impeachment is passed, I will accept it and do all my best under that circumstance.”  [Joong Ang Ilbo]

You can read the rest at the link, but according to the article the constitutional court has up to six months after impeachment to determine its legality.

It is looking like President Park Geun-hye will resign as the South Korean President in late April which means elections are supposed happen 60 days after that.  That makes late June 2017 as the timeframe for the next ROK Presidential election:

A rift emerged in the opposition alliance to impeach President Park Geun-hye this week as last-minute talks among the leaders of three liberal parties broke down Thursday, while ruling party lawmakers united to promote an “orderly” resignation of the president in April.

Chairwoman Choo Mi-ae of the main opposition Minjoo Party of Korea, Rep. Park Jie-won, acting head of the People’s Party and Chairwoman Sim Sang-jeong of the Justice Party held a meeting Thursday afternoon to discuss a specific timeline for an impeachment motion in the National Assembly. Citing an agreement from the previous day, Choo and Sim said the motion must be submitted on Thursday to allow a vote today. Park disagreed. He said he opposed a vote that was guaranteed to fail.

The embattled president issued a public statement Tuesday saying she was willing to cut her term short. She asked the National Assembly to decide the fate of her presidency in response to a public clamor for her resignation over a still snowballing abuse of power scandal.

Her proposal was considered an alternative to impeachment. Since Tuesday, members of her own party who were supporting impeachment have swung to the idea of another kind of resignation, which has been code-named the “orderly” departure scenario.

Park won a five-year presidential term in the 2012 election and her tenure is scheduled to end in late February 2018. [Joong Ang Ilbo]

You can read more at the link.

It appears that one way or another President Park is not going to complete her little over one year remaining in office after this announcement:

President Park Geun-hye on Tuesday called on parliament to determine her fate, saying she will step down in line with a timetable and procedures reached by political parties that can minimize any confusion arising from a government change.

Opposition parties dismissed the call as part of a political gambit to stall for time and thwart their impeachment push, stressing they won’t break ranks and will continue their move to oust the president.

During her third address to the nation over the corruption scandal centered on her confidante Choi Soon-sil, Park renewed her apology for her inability to address mounting public fury, but repeated her denial of any involvement in the scandal.

Earlier this month, the prosecution cited Park as an accomplice in “considerable parts” of the alleged wrongdoings carried out by Choi and her former aides — allegations denied by the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae.

“I will entrust the National Assembly with (the task of) making decisions on issues, including the shortening of my presidential term,” she said during the five-minute address. Her single, five-year term ends in February 2018.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link, but I think President Park probably does not want to put her political party members in a tough situation in regards to whether or not to support the impeachment vote coming up.  Offering to resign buys her political party time to organize a campaign for a person to replace her.  After she resigns elections are supposed to be held in 60 days.  It is going to be interesting to see how this plays out for President Park.

The Associated Press has an article published which looks at how each President of the Republic of Korea since its founding has had scandals of some kind mar the end of their presidencies:

 If there’s one thing that South Korean presidents dread more than the looming threat of rival North Korea, it may be this: becoming an ex-president.

Nearly all former presidents, or their family members and key aides, have been embroiled in scandals at the close of their terms or after leaving office. There have been corruption allegations, coups — even a suicide and an assassination.

Now, South Korean prosecutors say they believe current President Park Geun-hye, facing historic levels of unpopularity as she approaches her last year in office, conspired in the criminal activities of a confidante who allegedly exploited her presidential ties to force businesses to donate money to two foundations she controlled.

Here’s a look at the troubles faced by South Korean presidents over the years:  [Associated Press]

What is probably the most disappointing thing about President Park Geun-hye for many Koreans is that they thought she would at least be a relatively scandal free Presidency since she had few immediate family members to create corruption scandals like past presidencies.  However, her lack of immediate families members were replaced by cult figures that went on to do the same things that got past South Korean presidents in trouble.

good summary on how Korea's presidential scandal is sucking in Samsung, the crown jewel of the economy. https://t.co/OehslupBJS via @WSJ

— Geoffrey Cain (@geoffrey_cain) November 23, 2016