This is clearly a conflict of interest, but if President Lee wants his defense lawyer on the Constitutional Court he will get because the DPK controls the National Assembly which has to approve the nomination:

President Lee Jae-myung is considering nominating two sitting senior judges and a lawyer who served as his defense counsel in recent trials as candidates for two Constitutional Court justice positions, officials familiar with the matter said Sunday. 

Presiding Judge Oh Young-joon of the Seoul High Court and Judge Wi Kwang-ha of the same court are under review for the nomination, according to a presidential official. (…….)

The possible nomination of Lee is sparking debate, as he previously served as the president’s defense lawyer in a series of trials concerning allegations of election violations and unauthorized remittances to North Korea. 

The trials have been put on hold due to a South Korean president being immune from criminal prosecution while in office. 

The opposition People Power Party (PPP) criticized the presidential office over the potential nomination of Lee, saying the move would “amount to turning the judiciary into a private law firm.”

“The biggest reason why half of the people didn’t vote for President Lee Jae-myung was the suspicion and fear that he might exert influence over the judiciary if he gained control of the executive branch in addition to the legislature,” PPP spokesperson Seo Ji-young said.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Please leave anything you want to discuss in the comments section.

I hope Yoon Suk-yeol has some good lawyers because the Korean left will not be satisfied until him and his wife are thrown into jail:

The ruling Democratic Party of Korea-controlled National Assembly on Thursday passed contentious bills mandating special counsel probes into charges and scandals surrounding former President Yoon Suk Yeol and his wife, Kim Keon Hee.

Three probe bills reintroduced by the Democratic Party were approved during a parliamentary plenary vote held in the afternoon. One pushes to launch a permanent special counsel to investigate 11 charges tied to Yoon’s failed martial bid in December; another seeks to mainly investigate Kim’s alleged inappropriate interference in the People Power Party’s candidate nomination process in previous general and by-elections as well as her luxury bag scandal; the third looks into the allegations that the Yoon administration interfered in the military’s investigation into a young Marine’s death in 2023.

All three bills were passed in a 194-3 vote with one abstention, in a package deal.

Korea Herald

You can read more at the link.

As long as Russia continues to be North Korea’s major patron there is no reason for the Kim regime to pursue any negotations with the ROK and the U.S. That is unless the new Lee Jae-myung administration plans to make unilateral concessions for little to nothing in return from North Korea:

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has vowed to “unconditionally” support Russia over the war against Ukraine and “responsibly” observe the articles of a mutual defense treaty signed between Pyongyang and Moscow, the North’s state media reported Thursday.

Kim made the remarks during his meeting with Russia’s Security Council Secretary Sergei Shoigu the previous day in Pyongyang, according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

Shoigu, Russia’s top security official, arrived in North Korea on Wednesday, amid deepening military cooperation between North Korea and Russia, highlighted by the North’s troop dispatch to Russia to support the war against Ukraine.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

This has long been reported, but the ROK military has confirmed the deployment of U.S. Patriot missile batteries off the peninsula for the first time:

About 200 U.S. troops based in South Korea have been temporarily redeployed to the Middle East, according to a South Korean military official cited in a local news report. The soldiers were part of a Patriot missile-defense unit stationed in South Korea and deployed to an undisclosed location the Middle East last month, the Ministry of National Defense official told South Korean broadcast KBS for a report Friday. The official spoke on condition of anonymity, a common practice for government sources in the South. The South Korean defense ministry referred questions to U.S. Forces Korea, which oversees approximately 28,500 American troops on the peninsula. In an email Monday, USFK spokesman David Kim said the command “maintains a ready, capable and lethal force” but declined to provide further details, citing operational security. Patriot batteries are deployed across U.S. military bases in South Korea to protect against potential threats from the North.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link, but this is what strategic flexibility that U.S. military leaders have been advocating for USFK looks like.

I am assuming all the computers were pulled out of the presidential office as part of the martial law investigation. Additionally all the prior personnel that worked there were reassigned to other areas of the government when President Yoon was impeached:

President Lee Jae-myung on Wednesday jokingly pointed out the lack of preparation for the handover by officials of the previous administration, saying that there was nothing prepared at the presidential office in Yongsan-gu, Seoul.

“I just came to the Yongsan office, and it’s like a graveyard. There’s nothing, not even an employee to give me something to write. No computers, or even printers,” he told reporters on his first day as the new leader of Korea.

Announcing the first batch of key nominations for key members of the administration, he stood where his predecessor Yoon Suk Yeol stood on Dec. 3 to declare martial law, which ultimately was his downfall from the leadership position.

He joked about how the presidential office, which had ceased function after the parliament impeached Yoon on Dec. 14, did not have any system for him to sign off on key documents.Kang Yu-jung, the spokesperson of the presidential office, told reporters later that it had been “physically impossible” to conduct work at the presidential office on the first day. She said the office lacked basic infrastructure and tools such as an internet connection or even pencils and paper, not to mention that the previous administration did not leave transition instructions for the incoming administration.

Korea Herald

You can read more at the link, but according to the article the personnel reassigned after Yoon’s impeachment have been asked to return to work at the presidential office. Addtionally the article says that Lee Jae-myung expects to move the presidential office back to Cheongwadae in the next six months.