The economy is continuing to slump in South Korea and President Moon appears to be trying to show he is doing something to address it:
Hong Nam-ki, chief of the Office for Government Policy Coordination, speaks to reporters at his office on Nov. 9, 2018, after his nomination as the new finance minister. (Yonhap)
President Moon Jae-in sacked the finance minister and his chief policy adviser Friday after the two top economic policymakers openly displayed a serious rift over how to handle the slumping economy.
Moon named Hong Nam-ki, an economic technocrat who is currently serving as chief of the Office for Government Policy Coordination under the Prime Minister’s Office, to replace Kim Dong-yeon as finance minister and deputy prime minister for economic affairs, Cheong Wa Dae said.
Moon also sacked Jang Ha-sung, presidential chief of staff for policy, and named his senior social affairs secretary Kim Soo-hyun to succeed him. Jang is the architect of Moon’s trademark “income-led” growth policy.
Kim and Jang have publicly displayed wide differences over how to revitalize the sluggish economy, with Kim voicing a need to alter the “income-led” growth policy and Jang insisting on sticking to the distribution-centered policy.
Their replacement was seen in part as aimed at revamping the economic team as they failed to produce tangible results in revitalizing Asia’s fourth-largest economy. Their sacking was also seen as a measure to hold them responsible for failing to work in concert with each other. [Yonhap]
It looks like the Moon administration has found another governmental figure from the former Park government timeframe to go after:
Prosecutors have obtained a USB flash drive belonging to former Supreme Court Chief Justice Yang Sung-tae as part of their probe into the judicial power abuse scandal.The Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office said Monday its investigators seized Yang’s flash drive from his residence the day before, containing documents that could link him to the top court’s alleged collusion with the previous Park Geun-hye government.
While the court had only issued a search warrant for Yang’s automobile, prosecutors were able to seize the thumb drive as the warrant allowed them to search other places where they were certain to find evidence subject to seizure.During Sunday’s raid, Yang and his lawyer are reported to have told prosecutors the USB flash drive which the former chief justice carried with him after his retirement last year was stored inside his study.
Prosecutors suspect Yang was in charge of the Supreme Court’s various power abuses, such as using politically sensitive trials as bargaining chips to win favor with the administration and creating a slush fund from lower court budgets. [KBS World Radio]
It has come to this: *Breitbart* just did a better job of describing the cast of extremists in Moon Jae-in’s cabinet than “respected” publications with correspondents in Asia.https://t.co/NbdJMjz8PL I don’t read Breitbart; saw the link in my traffic stats. But I know who does.
Moon Jae-in's proposal to give service credit for membership in "civic groups" looks suspiciously like a scheme for politicizing the civil service by packing it with hard-left activists. https://t.co/9DZ80hhdWShttps://t.co/9DZ80hhdWS
I just don’t get why any South Korean would sympathize with North Korea and send threatening packages like this to ROK officials?:
A parcel containing a knife, suspicious powder and a threatening letter has been sent to South Korea’s defense chief, prompting authorities to launch a probe, the ministry said Friday.
The package addressed to Defense Minister Han Min-koo contained a 32.8-centimeter kitchen knife and some 20 grams of white powder with a two-page letter, according to the ministry, noting that the suspicious powder was later found to be flour.
The letter sent by the “International Peace Action Corps” reads, “Why are you bringing a fire cloud of a nuclear war to the Korean Peninsula by wagging your tongue?”
“I’ve decided to punish him out of concern that just leaving you like this would kill the whole people,” the letter said, warning to “get rid of” him and his family members.
On one side of the knife, the sender wrote in a red pen, “Han Min-koo,” and on the other side, “punishment,” the ministry noted. [Yonhap News]
You can read more at the link, but this guy will likely be caught soon since they have video footage of him mailing the package as well as a fingerprint they pulled off the box that may be his.
