Tag: Korean Government

The incompetent martial law attempt by former President Yoon appears now to be used as an excuse to conduct a complete purge of conservatives from the Korean government:

The government will launch a task force to investigate whether public officials were involved in illegal activities or misconduct in connection with former President Yoon Suk Yeol’s failed martial law attempt last December, the prime minister’s office said Tuesday.

Prime Minister Kim Min-seok made the proposal during a Cabinet meeting earlier in the day, stressing that the government’s top priority is to uphold the sovereignty of the people and democracy.

“We will swiftly conduct an internal investigation into public officials who participated in or cooperated with the martial law bid and secure the grounds for taking appropriate personnel measures,” Kim said in his opening remarks.

All 49 central government agencies, excluding those under the presidential office or independent bodies, will be subject to the investigation, which will run through Jan. 31.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

This case has been going through the legal process for many years, but it looks like it could end soon with jail sentence:s:

This combination of file photos shows (from L to R) former National Intelligence Service Director Park Jie-won, former National Security Adviser Suh Hoon and former Defense Minister Suh Wook. (Yonhap)

 Prosecutors on Wednesday sought a four-year prison term for former National Security Adviser Suh Hoon and a two-year term for former National Intelligence Service (NIS) Director Park Jie-won over the alleged cover-up of the 2020 killing of a South Korean fisheries official at North Korea’s hands.

The sentencing requests were made during the final court hearing at the Seoul Central District Court, wrapping up a trial that began some three years ago with the indictments of five officials of former President Moon Jae-in’s administration, including Suh Hoon and former Defense Minister Suh Wook.

The fisheries official, Lee Dae-jun, was fatally shot by North Korean soldiers near the de facto maritime border in the Yellow Sea on Sept. 22, 2020, a day after going missing while on duty on board a fishery inspection vessel. His body was burned by the North.

The Moon administration announced Lee sought to defect to the North in what prosecutors believe was an attempt to prevent the incident from hampering inter-Korean relations.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

The DPK is looking to end the only institution that is a check on their power the Supreme Court by packing it with leftist sympathizers:

The ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK)’s recent legislative proposal to expand the number of justices on Korea’s Supreme Court from the current 14 has ignited a passionate debate. Advocates argue that reform would make the judiciary more representative, correct a long-standing conservative bias and ease the court’s workload. Critics fear the move is less about balance and more about power. Whatever one’s political sympathies, Korea would be wise to look abroad before proceeding. The experiences of Poland and the United States offer sobering warnings.

When Poland’s right-wing populist Law and Justice Party came to power in 2015 by capturing the presidency and a parliamentary majority, a wave of fear swept through Polish civic circles. The opposition worried that the judiciary remained the last check on the populists’ power, while party leaders countered that the courts were elitist, politically biased and hostile to the will of the people. On that basis, the government embarked on an ambitious project of “judicial reform.” They lowered the Supreme Court retirement age to remove senior judges, introduced a new disciplinary system that gave politicians greater power to punish or remove judges deemed disloyal, and expanded certain courts to stack them with loyalists — pejoratively dubbed “neo-judges.”

Defended as technical fixes, in practice these changes enabled the ruling party to increasingly capture the judiciary. Judges who resisted were harassed, sidelined or disciplined. Trust in the impartiality of Poland’s judiciary collapsed. The European Union condemned the reforms as violations of democratic norms and launched infringement proceedings. Nearly a decade later, after the populists’ fall from power, Poland’s Supreme Court now has competing chambers that issue contradictory rulings, deepening uncertainty and further eroding public trust — a clear illustration of how such reforms, even if well-meaning, can breed dysfunction.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

It looks like South Korea will be teaming up with Elon Musk’s arch enemy Sam Altman in order to push its goal of becoming the AI hub of Asia:

President Lee Jae Myung met OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, the US entrepreneur behind the AI-powered chatbot ChatGPT, as the latter visited Seoul on Wednesday. The two reached tentative agreements to set up two new data centers needed to meet Korea’s growing artificial intelligence demands.

At the meeting held at the presidential office in Seoul, Lee and Altman exchanged their views on South Korea’s ambition to become an AI hub for the Asia-Pacific region. Also attending the meeting were Lee Jae-yong, executive chair of chipmaker Samsung Electronics, and Chey Tae-won, chair of SK Group, the parent company of chipmaker SK hynix.

Revealing that he was one of Korea’s many ChatGPT subscribers, Lee said Altman “opened up a whole new world, which could be either delightful or dangerous,” and asked that Altman make a world that is the former. ChatGPT’s popularity has recently grown sharply in Korea, where its monthly active users exceeded 20 million in August.

Altman responded that he was excited to support South Korea’s AI ambitions and needs, and to develop AI to its full potential to bring it to the world.

Korea Herald

You can read more at the link.

What a disaster this has turned into. Why were such sensitive data servers located near lithium ion batteries known to cause fires? Hopefully other governments and businesses are looking at where their cloud based storage is located at in order to prevent something like this from happening again:

The government’s official document storage system has been destroyed in last week’s fire at the state data management agency, wiping out work documents of the nation’s 750,000 civil servants, the interior ministry said Wednesday.

The cloud-based repository, known as G Drive, was among the 96 systems that burned down in Friday’s fire at the National Information Resources Service (NIRS) in Daejeon, about 140 kilometers south of Seoul, according to the ministry.

As the system is not backed up externally, all documents stored on the repository have been lost. Government employees have been advised to save all work-related documents on G Drive since 2018, rather than on their computers.

Government branches that have exclusively used the system to store work documents are expected to experience significant disruptions to operations.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Lithium ion batteries continue to be a major fire risk:

Burned lithium-ion batteries sit in a water tank after a fire at the National Information Resources Service in Daejeon. Friday’s blaze in an uninterruptible power supply room at the government data center disrupted hundreds of public services. Yonhap

Hundreds of government and financial services across Korea remain offline after a fire at a key national data center, disrupting citizens’ daily routines and causing frustration. Officials warned it could take up to two weeks before operations return to normal, affecting everything from housing applications to moving contracts.

The blaze broke out Friday evening at the National Information Resources Service (NIRS) headquarters in Daejeon, the “nerve center” of Korea’s e-government infrastructure. Officials said 13 workers had been replacing lithium-ion batteries when sparks from one battery are believed to have ignited the fire, which spread across the fifth-floor server room. About 100 people evacuated safely, and one worker suffered minor burns. Firefighters brought the fire under control after 10 hours, but it took nearly 22 hours to completely extinguish it.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

This bill is basically giving collective bargaining rights to sub-contractors and those not directly employed by businesses. What is probably the most interesting aspect of this bill is that unions get protections from causing damage to businesses while protesting. Considering how violent the KCTU can be when protesting, it is likely them who advocated for this protection in the bill:

Korea’s contentious pro-labor bill — dubbed the “yellow envelope bill” — was approved at the National Assembly on Sunday, after nearly a decade of political tug-of-war.

The ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) railroaded the passage, with 183 votes in favor and three against out of 186 lawmakers present, mostly DPK and minor liberal parties. Members of the conservative main opposition People Power Party boycotted the vote, following a 24-hour filibuster that ended earlier that day. 

The new law, an amendment to Articles 2 and 3 of the Trade Union and Labor Relations Adjustment Act, aims to broaden workers’ rights in collective actions and negotiations with employers. It will take effect six months after promulgation.

Under the revision, subcontracted and indirectly employed workers will be able to negotiate directly with parent companies on issues in which the parent company wields effective control, such as workplace safety.

The legislation also expands the scope of labor disputes to include restructuring and mass layoffs, though not all business decisions — such as overseas investments — automatically qualify. In addition, unions and workers gain protection from some damage suits for losses resulting from labor actions, especially those taken to defend their rights against an employer’s unlawful conduct.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

The plan for Cho Kuk’s revenge gets closer to completion:

A special counsel team requested an arrest warrant for former first lady Kim Keon Hee on Thursday, a day after questioning her over allegations of election meddling and other irregularities.

Special counsel Min Joong-ki’s team said it filed for the warrant on charges of violations of the Capital Market Act, the Political Funds Act and a law on the acceptance of bribes for mediation.

“We requested it upon determining that the criteria for an arrest warrant were met,” assistant special counsel Oh Jeong-hee said during a press briefing.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

If the former First Lady is locked up, Cho Kuk’s revenge will be almost complete:

A special counsel team on Wednesday wrapped up its first questioning of former first lady Kim Keon Hee over her alleged involvement in stock manipulation schemes, election meddling and other charges. Kim denied allegations against her, according to judicial sources.

The questioning lasted more than seven hours after beginning at around 10:23 a.m. at special counsel Min Joong-ki’s office in central Seoul.

Kim is the first spouse of a former or sitting president to publicly appear as a suspect in a criminal investigation.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

This was a good idea by the Korean negotiators to really emphasize the manufacturing the ROK can help bring back to the U.S.:

During the interview, Kim also introduced a red baseball cap used by the South Korean negotiating team in talks with the U.S. The cap bears the embroidered slogan “Make America Shipbuilding Great Again” on its front, a message inspired by Trump’s “Make America Great Again” mantra. 

“We designed this and brought about 10 of them to the U.S.,” he said, adding that the tariff negotiations would have been very difficult if South Korea did not have the shipbuilding card.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.