You would think they would just wrap up all these charges into one trial, but here we are with 8 trials:

 Former President Yoon Suk Yeol will receive his first court verdict on charges stemming from his December 2024 imposition of martial law later this week, officials said Thursday.

The Seoul Central District Court will hold the sentencing hearing of Yoon’s trial on special obstruction of public duty and other charges in connection to his failed martial law bid at 2 p.m. Friday.

It marks Yoon’s first sentencing of the eight cases he is standing trial on, including over charges he led an insurrection through his Dec. 3 martial law declaration in 2024.

Friday’s sentencing centers on charges Yoon blocked investigators from detaining him in January last year, violated the rights of nine Cabinet members who were not called to a meeting to review his martial law plan, and drafted and destroyed a revised proclamation after the decree was lifted.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Another Democratic Party member has been caught up in a bribery scandal:

This file composite image shows Rep. Kang Sun-woo (L), formerly of the ruling Democratic Party, and Kim Kyung, a Seoul city councilor accused of delivering 100 million won (US$67,900) to Kang. (Yonhap)

Police have summoned a former ruling Democratic Party (DP) lawmaker to appear for questioning next week over allegations of accepting 100 million won (US$67,900) from a Seoul city councilor ahead of the 2022 local elections, sources said Thursday.

The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency’s public crimes investigation team recently notified Rep. Kang Sun-woo, who recently quit the DP after the bribery allegations surfaced late last month, for her appearance on Tuesday, according to the sources.

Kang is accused of accepting the alleged bribe from councilor Kim Kyung via her then aide, which was allegedly given in exchange for Kim’s councilorship nomination in the lead up to the 2022 elections.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but it seems regardless of the party these bribes seemed to be part of Korean politics.

President Lee Jae Myung and Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi play drums together during the informal talks in Japan’s Nara, Tuesday. Yonhap

As long as the CSAT remains such an important factor in determining which colleges Korean students can attend, this corruption will continue:

Math instructor Hyun Woo-jin. 

Hyun Woo-jin (39) and Cho Jung-sik (44), both “top-tier instructors,” have been indicted for allegedly paying large sums to current teachers in exchange for mock College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT) questions and other materials. It was confirmed that they provided up to 180 million Korean won to teachers, with some transactions conducted through spouses’ accounts.

According to the indictment obtained by this newspaper through People Power Party Representative Park Joon-tae on the 14th, math instructor Hyun transferred a total of 179.09 million Korean won in 20 installments from March 2020 to May 2023 to Teacher A, who has been a private high school math teacher since 1995, in exchange for math exam questions. Hyun also paid 167.78 million Korean won in 20 installments from March 2020 to April 2023 to Teacher B, a high school teacher since 1997, and 75.3 million Korean won in 37 installments from March 2020 to June 2023 to Teacher C, a teacher since 2015. Teacher C was found to have used a spouse’s account for transactions.

The Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office Criminal Division 7 (headed by Choi Tae-eun) non-custodially indicted Hyun and the three teachers last December for violating the Anti-Graft Act. Under the law, private school teachers are prohibited from receiving more than 1 million Korean won per instance or 3 million Korean won annually from a single person unrelated to their duties, with both givers and receivers subject to punishment.

Chosen Ilbo

You can read more at the link.

No matter how many times the Kim regime tells the Korean left no to engagement they will never believe they really mean it:

North Korea’s Kim Yo-jong, the powerful sister of leader Kim Jong-un, late Tuesday dismissed prospects for improving inter-Korean relations, rejecting the South Korean government’s assessment that her earlier remarks left room for engagement and calling such expectations a “daydream.” 
  
“As far as Seoul’s various hope-filled wild dreams called ‘repair of DPRK-ROK relations’ are concerned, they all can never come true,” Kim said in an English-language statement carried by the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). “The present address of the DPRK-ROK relations can never change.” 
  
DPRK refers to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, North Korea’s official name, while ROK stands for the Republic of Korea, South Korea’s official designation.  
  
Her remarks were widely seen as a reiteration of Pyongyang’s stance to maintain a severance of inter-Korean ties based on Kim Jong-un’s doctrine of “two hostile states,” which frames the two Koreas as separate and adversarial countries rather than counterparts in a divided nation.

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link, but the Kim regime only seeks engagement to extract concessions which they don’t need right now because the Russians are providing for all their needs.

President Lee and Prime Minister Takaichi continue to appear to get along quite well. Hopefully this continues:

President Lee Jae Myung said Tuesday he has emphasized the need for trilateral cooperation among Seoul, Tokyo and Beijing as he held summit talks with Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, amid heightened diplomatic tensions between Japan and China. 

“I emphasized the need for the three Northeast Asian countries — Korea, Japan and China — to identify as much common ground as possible in order to communicate and cooperate,” Lee said in a joint press announcement after the summit. 

The summit talks with Takaichi came after Lee held summit talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing earlier this month, at a time when tensions have been running high between Beijing and Tokyo over Takaichi’s remarks on Taiwan.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but it appears Lee is trying to position himself as a mediator between Beijing and Tokyo. I doubt Lee will influence China in anyway in regards to Japan. Taiwan is one of those issues where the CCP shows no flexibility and will always overreact on.

This would be a dream outcome for the Korean left if President Yoon receives the death penalty:

A special counsel team has requested the death penalty for former President Yoon Suk Yeol over his failed imposition of martial law, describing him as the ringleader of an insurrection who sought to stay in power by seizing control of the judiciary and legislature.

Special counsel Cho Eun-suk’s team made the request during the final hearing of Yoon’s trial at the Seoul Central District Court on Tuesday, just over a year after the then president declared martial law on Dec. 3, 2024, with the stated aim of eradicating anti-state forces.

The court plans to hand down its ruling on Yoon’s case on Feb. 19.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.