Former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton gives a lecture during a global knowledge forum in Seoul on Oct. 18, 2017, in this photo provided by the host Maeil Business Newspaper. (Yonhap)
According to the Korea Times there is a bunch of mounting evidence against former ROK President Park Geun-hye proving she is corrupt has been found:
Ousted former President Park Geun-hye, who is on trial over massive corruption allegations, seems to be seeking sympathy from international society by claiming she is suffering from “political persecution.”
The change of strategy may have come because she is unlikely to get a favorable verdict in the trial, with her detention being extended recently for another six months.
But it seems unclear whether her playing the victim of political retaliation will work, because more and more evidence unfavorable to her is being found, and she has already faced strong criticism for denying all the allegations and attempting to cover them up. [Korea Times]
You can read more at the link, but I would love to see a roll up of this evidence and how Park ordered a cover up. I have yet to see a definitive roll up of the evidence just accusations in the media. Maybe at some point we will see the evidence that proves she is corrupt.
Here is probably the statement that concerned me the most in the article:
Rep.Park Beom-kye also said she has four to six times as much space as other inmates, has enough furniture and received outside medical treatment at a hospital twice.“She can also receive treatment inside the prison any time she wants.The claim (of human rights violations) is unreasonable,” he said.
“She committed very serious crimes but she and the MH Group are likely to package her as a victim of political retaliation.”
The cell conditions I am less concerned about then the fact that Representative Park Beom-kye has already declared her guilty with no presumption of innocence until proven guilty. That just feeds into Park Geun-hye’s claims that this is a political persecution.
It looks like there will soon be a lot of job openings in the government sector of South Korea:
The government has pledged to create 810,000 jobs in the public sector as a means to help young people struggling in the tight job market.
The Presidential Committee on Job Creation unveiled the plan as part of a five-year road map Wednesday.
President Moon Jae-in, who presided over the meeting, said the nation’s top 30 business groups will increase hiring by 5.6 percent this year.
On top of creating more jobs on the public sector, Moon called for private companies to join the campaign to hire more employees.“Hyundai Motor converted 7,000 subcontractors into regular workers.KT, Hanwha, POSCO and Doosan Group will also join the campaign to create more jobs,” he said.
Moon said the government will support innovative companies that actively hire more young people.
Under the plan, the government will create 340,000 jobs in the social services sector.It will start by adding 170,000 jobs in child care and nursing this year, for which there is a high demand.
An additional 170,000 positions will be created in the culture, sports and environment sectors.
The government will add 100,000 more police officers, 74,000 position in firefighting, social welfare and livestock disease control, and 174,000 in local-level civil servants. [Korea Times]
You can read the rest at the link, but the ROK government has no funding plan for this hiring spree which means it will likely just be deficit spending.
Courageous Channel is a routine biannual exercise, but I am willing to bet that families are taking it a little bit more seriously this time:
U.S. military dependents, contractors, retirees in Area 4 participate in the Courageous Channel exercise at the Kelly Fitness Center on Camp Walker, South Korea, in May 2012.
U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) said Monday it will conduct a regular contingency response exercise next week for its service members and their families, including how to evacuate them in the event of a war on the peninsula.
The annual Courageous Channel training will be held from Monday till Friday in cooperation with South Korea’s Ministry of National Defense and the U.S. State Department, said the USFK.
“Courageous Channel prepares service members and their families to respond to a wide range of crisis management events such as non-combatant evacuation (NEO) and natural or man-made disasters,” it said.
Participants in the exercise perform tasks that include readiness briefings, document and passport inspection, roster updates, and limited rehearsals.
The USFK stressed that the upcoming practice is a routine one, not directly related to recently heightened military tensions on the peninsula attributable to North Korea’s nuclear test and missile launches. [Yonhap]
Here is more about the Courageous Channel exercise from the Stars & Stripes:
The exercise known as Courageous Channel, which will be held from Oct. 23-27, is basically a dress rehearsal to make sure everybody’s ready to get out in a hurry in case of war or another emergency.
Military spouses, children and others wearing backpacks and pulling suitcases will file through assembly points on U.S. bases where wardens will make sure documents are updated and procedures are explained.
Information also will be provided about power of attorney, financial concerns, pets — which are considered family members — and other issues.
The military also has recently selected groups to be transported all the way to Japan, which would be a likely first stop in a real emergency. [Stars & Stripes]
The sound of multiple gunshots from a supply depot of the U.S.Forces Korea resounded through part of the southeastern city of Busan every evening for three days from June 20 to 22.
Residents, petrified by the unexpected noise, made frantic calls to the police to figure out what was going on, but to no avail as the police had no idea either.
Only later did the police figure out the USFK had been firing blanks with automatic firearms during a defense drill.
At the same time, residents near a forest in Dangjin, South Chungcheong Province, had to endure the sounds of flyovers, takeoffs and landings of army helicopters for a while.
The drill, later reported to be by the USFK, continued two to three times a week for over a year from early 2016.
Faced with complaints from nearby residents, the defense ministry checked with the USFK which said it had reached a verbal agreement on helicopter drills with the local government.
South Chungcheong provincial government and Dangjin municipal government, however, denied making any such agreement.
With concerns over unannounced drills growing among citizens, Rep.Kim Jong-dae of the minor opposition Justice Party called for a revision of the rules on USFK operations.
The Korea-U.S.joint committee on the State of Forces Agreement (SOFA) came up with preventive measures to secure the safety of citizens regarding USFK operations in 2003.
The move followed the Yangju Highway Incident in which two schoolgirls were crushed to death by an American tracked vehicle in 2002.
According to the 2003 agreement, the USFK has to report its drills beforehand to the South Korean army and local governments.
However, the regulation is applied only limitedly in northern Gyeonggi Province, excluding other regions in the country from getting prior notification.
“If it had been applied to the entire country from the beginning, all parties — the defense ministry, local governments, police, and local people — would have not had to suffer,” Kim said. [Korea Times]
You can read the rest at the link, but it will interesting to see what the USFK response is because there must be a reason why the whole country was not included in the revision in 2003 and the ROK government agreed to it.
Considering how long this has dragged out I am still waiting for the definitive evidence that Park Geun-hye was helping Choi Soon-sil shake people down for money for her daughter’s equestrian training. Until the definitive evidence is shown then Park has a point that this is “political revenge”.
Former President Park Geun-hye leaves the courtroom after attending a hearing at the Seoul Central District Court in southern Seoul, Monday. / Yonhap
Former President Park Geun-hye said Monday that she has “lost faith” in the nation’s justice system, claiming she is nothing but a victim of political revenge.
Her remarks came during a hearing at the Seoul Central District Court after it decided last week to extend her detention for another six months.
“I was supposed to be released today,” she said during the hearing at the court.“But the court issued another arrest warrant ... I can’t accept its decision.”
In protest of the decision, her lawyers resigned the same day.
“My lawyers and I felt helpless,” she said.“I have lost faith that the court will do a fair job in accordance with the Constitution and conscience.”
This was the first time she has spoken publicly since her trial began six months ago.After being ousted and arrested in March over a massive influence-peddling scandal involving her friend Choi Soon-sil, she barely said anything except yes or no whenever cameras were around.
Park insisted on her innocence, saying, “I did not comply with requests to favor anyone while in office.” She also claimed the trial has shown that various suspicions surrounding her are false.
Then, in an apparent message aimed at President Moon Jae-in, the rival candidate she beat in the 2012 presidential election, and his governing Democratic Party of Korea, Park claimed she is just a victim of political strife.
“I hope I will be the last victim of political revenge in the name of the rule of law,” she said.
“The last six months have been a horrible and miserable time for me.I had trust in a person who later betrayed me.As a result, I have lost my honor and everything else in life.” [Korea Times]
You can read the rest at the link, but the Korean left has been going after former conservative President Lee Myung-bak as well to get him thrown in jail. The Korean left has longed blamed conservatives for uncovering former President Roh Moo-hyun’s corruption which led to his suicide shortly after his presidency.
Does everyone remember Heather Cho of “Nut Rage” fame? You would think her chaebol owning dad would keep a low profile after such a high profile incident involving his family. Well that was not the case as he is now being targeted by authorities for corruption:
Cho Yang-ho
The police’s request for a warrant to arrest Hanjin Group Chairman Cho Yang-ho accused of fund misappropriation was rejected by the prosecution on Tuesday.
Cho, who doubles as CEO of Korean Air Lines Co., is under investigation over suspicion that he siphoned off 3 billion won (US$2.6 million) from company funds to pay for his house remodeling expenses between May 2013 and August 2014. Police made the writ request for Cho on Monday on possible charges of breach of trust.
The Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office said it instructed the police to further investigate the case to substantiate his charges.
He was questioned by police last month. He has denied any wrongdoing, saying he had no knowledge of the misappropriation.
The allegations were raised during a separate police investigation into possible tax fraud by an interior renovation company that works largely for business conglomerates.
In early July, police investigators raided the airline’s headquarters in western Seoul and confiscated accounting books and contract documents. [Yonhap]
That must be some serious renovations to cost $2.6 million.
